Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto
by battousai222
Summary: The 4th Hokage never sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto. Instead he defeated it and gave his son Naruto a new chance at life. A strong, powerful Naruto. He made Jounin at 13 also. Pairing Naruto X FEMALE Haku! Haku is a girl!
1. From Imprisonment to Hell, The New Life

Well this is my second story I have started to write. The other one I started but didn't like were it was going. So I started to write another one. This one!

Summary: The 4th Hokage never sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto. Instead he defeated it and gave his son Naruto a new chance at life. He will be strong and become a ninja. Pairing most likely Naruto X Female Haku!

I hope you enjoy the story! Battousai222

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

From Imprisonment to Hell, The New Life is Born

"It's the Yondaime. He's finally come to battle. We still have a chance at beating this monster. Keep fighting!"

That was the cry of a brave fighter that was fighting a losing battle. You see he was fighting none other than the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Also known as the king of hell, king of all demons, or the nine tailed fox. No one knows why the Kyuubi just showed up one day, but it did. And when it did he suddenly attacked the village of Konohagakure, or the village hidden in the leaves. But it was not just one man that was fighting the demon lord himself. No it was the entire ninja population of Konohagakure or Konoha for short. Every available Ninja was out on the battle field risking their lives for the sake of their village and the people in it that were they're family and friends.

"He's right! Keep fighting the Yondaime will be here any minute now. Don't stop! ATTACK!" This was a yell from another one of those brave ninja out on the battle field. The Yondaime or the fourth Hokage of the village was soon going to join the battle. The Hokage it the strongest person in the village. This particular Kage was said to be unstoppable in a fight and many shinobi had been told to run when if they saw him. To know he was coming to the battle brought new vigor to the quickly loosing battle. With the knowledge that their strongest would be coming made every ninja fight with all they're power in them. And so the battle against the demon lord continued with a new found will in them all.

Suddenly, there was a huge cloud of smoke that took up the entire field for a good 300 feet distance. The smoke cleared and there stood the toad boss himself, the king of all toads, Gamabunta. And on him stood none other than the Yondaime Hokage himself, Namikaze Minato. The toad was huge to say the least. It stood tall at a good 250 feet tall, maybe more. It wore a shirt sort of thing with the kanji for toad on it. In his mouth was an equally huge pipe that he was smoking. Then there was the Yondaime himself. He stood there on top of the toad boss in all of his glory. He was a good 6 foot 4 inches tall. He had on your standard Jounin vest that was green in color with pouches for scrolls on the front. He wore blue shinobi sandals, blue shinobi pants with shuriken and kunai pouches on each leg. He also had on a Konoha head band with the symbol of Konoha no Sato proudly worn on his forehead. He had long unruly blond hair the spiked here and there that went just below his neck line. The last and most noticeable thing would be the white cape that he wore. It went from his shoulder blades all the way to just above his ankles. On the back was the kanji for 'yellow flash' and on the bottom were flames that seemed to be dancing.

"The Yondaime is here! Keep fighting!" That was what Minato heard as he arrived on the battle field. He saw the Nine Tailed Fox in all its glory. It stood even taller than Gamabunta did, not in height, but in length and if you counted those nine lethal tails of his that were swinging violently around, just waiting to destroy everything in its path, it would truly make a scary sight. This is what the Yondaime saw, the Kyuubi, killing all of Konoha's ninja fervently and without mercy. There were dead bodies everywhere and even more wounded. That didn't count the people that the Kyuubi just vaporized completely. How he stood in front of the Kyuubi without even flinching was quite the feat, and only he could do it.

Just as he was about to advance he couldn't help but look back at the village behind him. It was his home and he would protect it with his life. That was the duty of a Kage or more importantly the duty of a father. You see his only son was just born and he resided in the village behind him. He couldn't help but remember the last few days he had just gone through.

Flashback 5 Days Earlier…

Minato was sitting in his office looking over book after book. He had to find a different way to stop the Kyuubi. He had to! He couldn't accept the other option, he wouldn't accept it. There had to be something that he hasn't thought of. Something!

"Dam it! I can't find anything. There has to be another way to stop it. There has to…" This was the state of the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. For the past three weeks the village had known that the Kyuubi was out of hell and at first he was good. Just roaming the country until 2 days after he appeared he just went crazy. He lost it and attacked everything and anything it its path. It spared no one and it was heading in Konoha's direction. At first the village was in disbelief. Why you might ask? Well it is quite simple really. Why would the King of all demons just appear one normal day then sudden go crazy and attack everything in its path? They were just lucky enough to be in its path, lucky them.

Any way, the village was in a panic. How were they supposed to stop the King of all demons? He was rumored to be able to destroy entire mountains with just one swing of his tails and also start tsunamis with another swing. It was a creature that no one wanted to face and they were going to face it. The Hokage took action immediately and canceled all missions and called all shinobi in the field to come back to Konoha immediately. They did just that too. They would fight for there home and family. They were Shinobi of Konoha and they would be dammed if they went out with out a fight.

This was not what was bothering our Hokage though. It was the fact that he would have to sacrifice his own son to be able stop the monster. Being the Hokage meant that the village came before family. But he was not willing to sacrifice his own son. He would do anything to protect him and make sure he had a great life, which was why he was in his office banging his head on the table as we speak. You see he found a way to stop the beast but it was too high of a price for him to pay. Seeing as the beast was immortal by human standards and could not be killed by any mere human, it would take nothing less than a force of nature to stop him, a hurricane, a tsunami, some thing huge and powerful. He unfortunately had none of this. He may be considered the strongest of his time but not even he had that kind of power.

The only thing he could do right now to stop the great beast was seal it away into his own son. By doing that the Kyuubi and his son would eventual pass on and the Kyuubi would die with his son. He had the seal made up and everything. He would call upon the death god himself. A being that even the Kyuubi had no power against. With him he would seal away the Kyuubi inside his son and thus would end the Kyuubi's rein of terror. The only problem was that afterwards everyone would think of his son as the monster Kyuubi himself, thus making his sons life a living hell at a young age. He would not do that. He was broken out of his thought when the door to his office in his house opened up and in came his wife.

"Minato, how is it going? Any progress?" The voice of his wife made him look up and smile a defeated smile. She was beautiful to say the least. Her name was Kushina Namikaze. The wife of Minato Namikaze. She stood a good 5 feet 8 inches. She was very pregnant and expecting in a day. Even though she was pregnant she was still very beautiful. She had a maroon kimono on, that had sakura petals on the edges. She had a nice figure and beautiful face. She had light blue eyes and long dark red hair that went all the way to her mid back. She was beautiful.

With a heavy sigh, "No, all I've been able to come up with is the seal and I refuse to use that on our son." Minato said with another heavy sigh.

"Oh… I'm sure you'll think of some thing. You always do." She said this with a beautiful voice while giving her husband a smile.

Minato just looked at her and couldn't help but feel slightly better, "How do you always do it. You always make me feel better when ever I'm down?"

She couldn't help but giggle slightly at that. He was just so amusing sometimes. "Well you know me; I'm just like tha...Ouph!" She fell down on her knees and Minato was by her side in a split second.

"Are you O.K. Come on you should come sit down." He said while leading her over to the couch in his office. He sat her down and sat beside her obviously really worried about her.

"Thanks." She said after she got on the couch.

"Was he kicking again?"

"Ya. He sure is active lately. I can't wait till he is born and I can hold him in my arms though." She had a far away look on her face at this point. She was imagining how handsome her son was going to look. She couldn't wait.

"Ya, tell me about it. I hate to see you in pain. And just like you I can't wait to see our kid."

There was a comfortable silence in the room after that. Both lost in there own thoughts about there unborn son and how his life was going to be. They were leaning against each other on the couch to. Kushina had her head on the nape or collar of Minato's neck. He was leaning his head on hers too. It was a comfy silence while embracing each other in each others company. But both of the minds wandered to the inevitable future to come, if Minato couldn't find another way for them to stop the Kyuubi. Then they would have to seal it in there son and that was the last thing that they want to happen. They were both realists and knew that there son would be treated horribly if the Kyuubi was inside of him. It was a parent's worst nightmare to see their kid in danger or know that his life was anything but happy.

Suddenly Kushina started to cry. Minato looked down at her and couldn't help but feel sad to. They were sealing away there son's fate. Not just any fate but a horrible one to. All Minato could do was embrace her tighter to give what ever comfort he could for her. They stayed like that for a good while until Kushina could stifle her sobs.

"Why Minato….sniffle…why did this have to happen now…sniffle…when we just started to have a family too. We were going to be happy… sniffle… why." She started to cry some more. Through it all, Minato could only hold her and give her a little comfort. It was the hardest thing he had to go through. To see the one you love so much, break down, and you couldn't do a thing to help. It sucked!

"If only I could find a way to get rid of the Kyuubi and not have to hurt our son in any way. DAMN IT! There has to be something that I'm not thinking about!"

There was another long period of time were they just held each other. It was an agonizing thing to go through.

"If only the Kyuubi never left hell in the fist place. Why can't it just go back and leave us alone. Let us live our lives in peace. We didn't do anything to it. It's not fair." She started to cry again. Through this all Minato froze for some reason. After she didn't get a response and she felt Minato stiffen she looked up just in time to see Minato hug her super tight.

"You're a genius Akari-chan." He told her while holder her tighter than ever.

"What….what do you mean?"

Minato couldn't help but feel happy about this something. He was smiling an ear to ear smile that showed how happy he was.

"I just thought of a way to stop the Kyuubi and it's all thanks to you. You're a genius. God I love you!"

"What! How, what are you going to do! Tell me, please!" By now she was staring at her husband with the most hope she's had on her face for the last 5 days now. She had to know.

"It's like you said. Why can't Kyuubi just go back to hell? If I alter the seal I made to seal the Kyuubi, into one that summons up the portal to demon world where he came from then force him in, he will be gone. I'll still need to summon the death god because I'll need his power to send him back where he belongs. But it is entirely possible with the help of the death god. After all he controls death of both humans and demons."

After that was said Kushina Namikaze was one of the happiest people in the world. There was still hope. She could count on Minato to make the seal. They were saved. She started to cry again but this time it was from pure happiness.

"I got to go make the new seal and get everything ready. You go back to Tsunade and have her take care of you and our little boy. Can't have either of you getting hurt. That would make this entire thing pointless wouldn't it honey?" He playfully hugged her before he bee-lined it to his library to work on the new seal.

Kushina just watched her husband's retreating back before getting up and doing just that.

Next Day…

We find our yellowed haired friend in his office over the newly designed seal that was drawn on a huge piece of paper when a boy ran into his office without even knocking. The door flew open and he ran in to stand in front of Minato panting heavily, bent over with his hands on his knees. He was a boy no older than 13 with a face mask covering his lower face. It went around his neck all the way up and over his nose. He had his Konoha head band covering his left eye. He had silver hair that was sticking up and slightly backwards. He also wore the standard Jounin vest of the village. After gaining his breath some what, he stood to look at the startled man.

"Minato-sensei….pant…. Kushina…. in… labor….. at the…hospital." The second he spoke this Minato was out the door faster than he could see. All that was left was an after image of him standing there and a yellow streak leaving out the door. After getting over the sudden loss of seeing his sensei moving that fast again, he simply used the shunshin no jutsu to teleport to the hospital. With an audible 'poof' sound and a cloud of smoke later he was gone.

Hours Later…

"He's beautiful isn't he Minato-kun?" That was the voice of a very tired woman named Kushina Namikaze. She just finished giving birth to her child and is now holding that same child in her arms lovingly. Standing beside her is her husband Minato Namikaze staring at his boy. He couldn't be happier right now, he was on cloud nine.

"What's his name you two?" Asked an old man that just walked through the door. He was very old to. You could tell by the small amount of wrinkles that were starting to form on his face. He stood in the doorway walking up to them with a smile of his own.

"His name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Kushina said with a smile as she looked down at her son.

"How do you like that name Naruto?" She asked playfully as she let her son play with her finger. The response was a giggle from Naruto and his pulling on her finger with more vigor than before. Every one in the room just smiled happily especially Minato.

"Hi, there Naruto. I'm you father Minato. Your going to grow up to be really strong like your father aren't you, Haaaa." He asked as he let him play with his finger and suck on it just as his wife did. This truly was a great day for the Namikaze family. There newest member was just born. And what a great member that child would be.

Flashback End…

"Gamabunta lets finish this!" Those were the words that the toad boss heard before he jumped towards the Kyuubi no kitsune. With one mighty push off his legs he flew in the air right over the fox and landed behind said fox. The nine tails immediately lashed out at him. The toad boss dodged to the side, just barely being missed. One tail was far to close though.

Then the giant fox charged in and took a swipe with one of its might claws and managed to hit the toad boss in the face because the fox was just to fast to dodge all of its tails and then a surprise from its claws. The mighty claw came down on Gamabunta's face and went right over his eye. He screamed out in pain and jumped back to get some distance.

"Suiton-Teppodama" (Water release- Gunshot) Gamabunta fired a huge water blast from his mouth and it went straight for its only target. Just when it was about to hit though the fox flared its chakra and shot out a huge fireball out of its mouth that collided with the water blast. When both hit each other it created a huge steam that covered the field. When it cleared both Gamabunta and the Kyuubi were standing and ready to pounce on each other once more.

They charged each other but time seemed to slow down suddenly. On top of Gamabunta stood Yondaime of Konoha no Sato and he had just finished his long series of hand seals. Through out the whole battle between the two giants Minato was doing hand seal after hand seal. 123 hand seals later he was finally done and he yelled out his jutsu.

"Shiki Fujin, Jigoku Koka Kyoten Chiten Numa no jutsu" (Descending hell to mirror heaven and earth change to underworld no jutsu)

All life with in a 40 mile radius stood still not daring to move for being afraid of what might come next. Even the mighty Kyuubi dared not move for even he the king of all demons felt the power that jutsu possessed. Suddenly the ground underneath Kyuubi and Gamabunta shock violently and started to crack right from under them. Both giants jumped back and watched as the very earth crumbled to nothingness. Then cracks that were a foot in diameter each, running for hundreds of feet in every direction from were it started began to form, and the ground sudden collapsed downward. After a few agonizing seconds the hole could be seen for all in the world to witness.

Were there used to be forest now was a hole the size of 3 three Kyuubi's combined. It was hundreds of feet wide. On the other side of this hole you could see flames like no other and other demons as well. Then from behind Gamabunta appeared a being scarier than the Kyuubi himself, the death god in all of its glory. It was transparent but you could feel the power coming off of it. And it wasn't a normal power either. It felt like pure death. The death god saw the king of all demons and reached out for the demon lord. Death's hands grabbed the demon lord and dragged the Kyuubi into the pit that was demon world, also known as hell. The Kyuubi felt death's hands and even he, as powerful as he was, couldn't help the shiver that went down its spine at just the feel of deaths hands. He tried to fight back but to no avail. Death succeeded in pulling the demon lord into the underworld. Once inside hell the death god came back out and spread his arms wide, then, as if pulling two things together in front of him he moved his arms from their outstretched position and proceeded to pull them together in front of him, till his wrists were touching.

As the death god did this, the portal to the underworld shut and closed once again. All the onlookers' saw of this was the ground crumbing and then Kyuubi being pulled in. They could not see the death god. Only those who have signed his contract can see or summon him. All the onlookers saw after that was just a blinding light; they did not see the portal close or the death god. All they saw was a blinding light that lasted a good 20 seconds before it faded down into nothingness. When they could see again, they were astonished. There in the field was Gamabunta with the 4th Hokage, Namikaze Minato on top of him and no sign of the demon lord at all. But to one Yondaime Hokage he saw the death god approach him and rip out his very soul from his body. He knew this would happen, that was the cost of calling forth the death god. You die in the process and he takes your soul with him to the after life, it was a self sacrificing jutsu.

As his soul was ripped out, all he could think about was his wife and child. He was happy that at least his son Naruto was alive. He knew his wife was dead though how he knew was beyond him. It was a felling in the back of his head that told him so. He just prayed that it was a quick and painless death. Finally though, his mind went to his child. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. He got to hold his son and spend an entire four days with him. That time was spent with his wife and son. And what a great four days that was. His son was alive and he could now live a life of happiness and not the hell that could have been. Knowing this, the Yondaime died with a smile on his face as he fell from Gamabunta's head towards the ground. His last words were,

"Live well, Naruto."

He died in the middle of the fall and Gamabunta caught him with his tongue and laid him on the ground. With the fight over, there was no need for him to be there so he disappeared in a poof of smoke back to where he came. The onlookers of the fight were startled when the Hokage fell off of Gamabunta and ran to were he was put down. When they got there they found he was dead. The battle was over. The Kyuubi no kitsune was gone and their Hokage was dead.

The Next Day…

Everyone was standing out side of the Hokage building, were there was to be an announcement made about the battle yesterday. Everyone was there. From citizens to shinobi, from infants to the elderly. Absolutely everyone within the hidden village of Konoha was there. They didn't have to wait long before the previous Hokage, the 3rd Hokage, Sarutobi went in front of the podium and stood there for the crowd to quite down. Within moments the entire crowd was quite. Even the babies.

Clearing his throat he spoke in a load voice, "As you all know yesterday was a tragic day for the Village. We lost many men and women. Some were shinobi and some were citizens. They all had long prosperous lives ahead of them; they need not have died, had it not been for the demon. We do not know why the great demon would suddenly attack but that is not important when compared to the losses we have suffered. What is important though is that we defeated it and now is the time we rebuild and start over. Many were lost in that battle but will not be forgotten. They live on in the heart of us all and we will not let the flames of fire burn out. We will continue on in this world and return to our former glory!" At this point in the speech the crowd cheered loudly for the speech. Sarutobi raised his hands to motion everyone to quiet down so he could continue.

"Yesterday we also lost the 4th Hokage. My successor Namikaze Minato. He fought to protect this village and used a self sacrificing Kinjutsu. By doing so he defeated the demon fox and saved all of Konoha. I am also sad to say that his wife Namikaze Uzumaki Kushina is also dead. She went into battle with her comrades and died in the fighting." The crowd became sad once again and Sarutobi continued on. "Because Minato is dead, I will be taking his place as Hokage once again." The crowd was mixed between cheering for the reinstated 3rd Hokage and being quite in respect of the late 4th Hokage and his wife. Sarutobi continued on.

"Although we have lost much we can rebuilt and we will. Families have been pulled apart, but they will grow again in time. Buildings may have fallen but we will rebuild them. Konoha will once again prosper in do time. The final thing that I would like to say would be about the late 4th and his wife. He was a great man and shinobi, but he was an even better husband to his wife Kushina." Many in the crowd hung there heads at this. They knew they both died and they knew that they were also due to have a child and day now. But now that would not happen.

After another pause in his speech to let all the information sink in, he once again started but this time with a brighter sound in his voice. The crowd also noticed this.

"On my final note, I would like to say that not all of the Namikaze family is gone. There is one more left and that is none other than Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, Minato's and Kushina's child." The crowd gasped at this. They thought that the Namikaze were all dead. This surely was bright news. One person decided to be brave and ask the question that everyone wanted to but was too scared to do so.

"Hokage-sama, may we see the child of our hero?" Sarutobi looked at him and then nodded to someone off to the side. It was none other than the kid that burst through the door in Minato's house a few days prior to tell him about Kushina being in labor. Kakashi Hatake walked up to the Hokage and carefully handed him a bundle in his arms to the Hokage. Once the 3rd had the child in his arms he turned back to the crowd allowed them to see the child.

He was just an ordinary looking child but he was a Namikaze and that made him special. "This is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Named by his own parents before they died. They wished they could be with him and help him grow up in this town that they loved but that unfortunately could not be so. They asked me to personally take care of the child until he is old enough to live on his own and that is what I intend to do."

The crowd looked at the child and could not help but feel a little better that at least some things from the lives they once knew were left. The son of there hero lived and that was great. Perhaps life in the Hidden Leaf Village would prosper again like the 3rd said. After the speech was given, Sarutobi walked off back to his home and the village did the same. Tomorrow was a new day for Konoha.

Author Notes:

This is Battousai222. Well I hope you liked the first chapter. It took me about three days to write but it is done. I plan on continuing this story for some time. How long I don't know. I might not finish it but I will try. It all depends on my life at the time and how things are going.

My other story I don't plan on continuing at all. Sorry. I just don't like the way the story was going. If anyone wants to finish it or take the idea and spread on it, go right ahead. Although I would like you to PM me and tell me so I can read it!

Please read and review. I would appreciate it. It makes me warm in the heart. YA RIGHT! But it does make me happy to have readers that like it. I also like your opinions. Pairings don't start with me!!!! It will be Naruto and Haku and that is it!

Well enough of my rambling! Read and Review. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!


	2. A True Prodigy Is Running Around Konoha

Well here's the next chapter. I said it would be about two weeks and it has been two weeks.

I'd like to say this so I don't get sued and have to run from the law because I can't pay for the fins.

I do not own Naruto at all. Never have never will! But I do own this story!

Without further ado, please enjoy the chapter!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

A True Prodigy Is Running Around Konoha

"Asuma-san, today is the day I go to the academy right?" That was the question that Namikaze Naruto asked as he ate his breakfast. He was talking to Sarutobi Asuma, the 3rd's son. He was a Jounin of good height, 6 feet 3 inches. He had blue shinobi pants, blue saddles, and a green Jounin vest with the 6 pockets for scrolls on the front. He had black hair that spiked upwards but not too high. He also had side burns that went all the way to his chin were his beard was. He had brown eyes with the standard head band tied around his forehead with the leaf symbol on it. He also had a cigarette in his mouth. That was his trade mark, that cancer stick of a habit of his; he always had one with him or in his mouth.

"Yes Naruto, you go to the academy today. You've been asking for the last week already. Jeez." The cigarette smoking Jounin said.

"Well, I'm just excited, that's all. Come on it's my first day after all. I'm finally going to be a ninja!" He was so happy. Finally he could be strong like his dad was.

"Yes, I know. You know, you're pretty lucky squirt. Most of the time they don't just let a five year old into the academy. Usually you have to be six to get in. But I guess they made an exception for you."

"Ya, a lot of people do that because of who my father was. But that will stop some day. I don't just want to be known as my dad's kid. I want people to know me because of my accomplishments." He pouted. Everyone always gave him special treatment because of who his parents were.

"Well kid I hope you accomplish that goal of yours. But you better start to get a move on. Remember you're younger than the other kids right now, so they might be stronger than you are. Also if you don't go pretty quickly you might not make it in time." He had to smirk at the kid now. After a second he looked at the clock, jumped out of his chair and rushed out the door barely even saying goodbye.

Now outside of the Sarutobi compound, we find our five year old jogging to the academy for his first day of school. All the way there people smiled, waved, and greeted him. They always gave him nice smiles. 'I guess that's the perks of your dad being the 4th Hokage.' He thought to himself. When he finally made it to the academy he asked where the room for his class would be. They told him which room it would be in and saw him off with another smile. He walked in to the classroom and everyone stared at him, he got that often. He just shrugged and walked up the stairs to the last row and took a seat in the middle. He sat there waiting for about 10 minutes until the teacher came in and asked for it to quite down. After about a minute of people still talking the teacher had a vein pop out on his forehead and then screamed at the class.

"QUIET!! SIT DOWN IN YOUR SEATS!!!" While he screamed, his head somehow blew up and became red. He looked like a very scary man when angry. 'Heeemmm must be some kind of jutsu.' Naruto thought.

"That's better. Now that everyone is quiet we can start class. For the next six years you will be attending the academy to learn how to be ninja. My name is Umino Iruka, I am a Chunnin and you can call me Iruka-sensei. Now for roll call…"

He took roll call alphabetically and when he got to the K's he said…

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto" At the name Namikaze many turned their heads towards the student that said here. It would be a lie to say that everyone in Konoha didn't know about the last Namikaze left. There were many whispers going around that soon turned into full blown talking. Again that vein appeared on Iruka's head.

"QUIET DOWN!" That got them to shut up. "Better, now Sito Iwate…" And so on and so on. After role call Iruka explained that by the end of the 6 years in the academy they would know a lot about the shinobi nations, history of Konoha, all about chakra, at least three jutsu, and of course how to be a proper shinobi. To pass the academy you had to have good grades and be able to perform those three jutsu with good results.

8 Months Later…

Iruka-sensei had just walked in and everyone sat down and sat there quietly. After the first couple dozen times the students learned not to get the 'evil big headed no jutsu' so they wisely shut up when he entered. Iruka saw this and couldn't help but smirk. They were so easy to control right now.

"O.K. class, thanks for being quiet. Roll call time." He went through role call just like normal.

"Today is a very special day. Someone in this class will be given the graduation test really early. He or she has shown great promise and is years ahead of everyone else. In fact, the youngest to ever graduate the academy was Uchiha Itachi at a record of 6 and half years old. Today someone might break that record." The class broke out in gossip about who could possibly be that good in class. They didn't have to wait long before the answer was given in the form of a name.

"Will Namikaze Naruto please come with me to another room so you may take the paper test first." Iruka exclaimed with a smile on his face.

"Me….?" Naruto was dumbfounded. He knew he was stronger than anyone else in class but to be good enough to be a genin he didn't know about that. Luckily for him Iruka-sensei saw this look.

"Now Naruto, I know you and your fellow classmates might be wondering how you could be so advanced. Well it shows on your test scores and your performance of taijutsu. (Hand to hand combat) You see I've compared your scores with others from last year's graduation exams and your answers are on their level if not better than theirs. Your taijutsu according to me and 3 other teachers is on par with a genin and your strength and speed are too. Overall the teachers believe you are ready to be a genin. So please follow me to the examination room." With that said, Iruka went out the door with Naruto following. Iruka returned five minutes later to continue his lessons for the others.

Forty minutes later Naruto came back into the classroom with his paper and handed it to Iruka. He looked it over and smiled.

"Congratulations Naruto. You passed the written exam with 100 percent. Great job." Naruto beamed. He seriously thought that the test would have been harder. But surprisingly it wasn't as difficult as he thought.

"Now class, I'll leave this up to you. Do you want to come watch Naruto perform the other tests to graduate? If you don't, I can get another teacher to test him. What do you say?" He really wanted to be the one to test out Naruto but if the class didn't want to he had to stay. Luckily for him everyone wanted to see what he could do so they all headed out side for the next test. When they got out into the practice field he turned to Naruto.

"O.K. Naruto usually we don't do this test for graduation but since we don't have a good record of your abilities to throw kunai and shuriken we need to test them. So you are going to throw these ten shuriken at those dummies and the then ten kunai at the other dummies. Try to hit the bulls-eye."

Naruto went and grabbed the aforementioned weapons and stepped up to the line. He put all but two kunai into his pockets, the other two he held in each hand. He took aim and then let them fly. They soared through the air and hit the dummies dead center in the bulls-eye. He repeated this for the other eight kunai and ten shuriken. They all hit the bulls-eye dead center. He turned around with a sheepish grin on his face. Iruka smiled back but his other classmates had to pick up their mouths from the floors. They couldn't believe what they saw. This kid that was a year younger than anyone in the class and was doing great on the test. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Well done Naruto, perfect again. O.K. now for the final test. Usually there is one more and that is your taijutsu skills. But since you have had four teachers approval you don't have to take that one, so onto the final test. I want you to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique) for me first. You need to make at least three bunshin or you fail. Whenever you're ready."

Naruto took a step forward but in front of everyone he was feeling really nervous. He took a big breath in to calm his nerves and prepared to mold his chakra. He performed the ram seal and ten poufs' of smoke happened beside him. When the smoke cleared there stood eleven Narutos. One was the real one and the other ten, illusions created by the technique. Once again the student had to pick their jaws off the ground and even Iruka joined them this time.

"W...Well you surprised me again Naruto. You pass that one perfectly with flying colors. You even made seven more clones than you needed to."

"Now please perform the Kawarimi no jutsu (Body Replacement) for the second part."

Naruto did just that. Going through some seals and then switching places with a log that was in the training grounds. It went off without a hitch.

"Well done again, Naruto. You pass that part too. Now for the final jutsu, please perform the Henge no jutsu (Transformation) and turn into an exact copy of me please."

Naruto complied. He stood in front of the class and put his hands in the ram seal again and said henge. There was a puff of smoke and when the cloud disappeared there stood an exact copy of Iruka.

"Well done Naruto. Perfect again. You can drop the jutsu now."

Naruto did as his teacher told and with another audible poof and a cloud of smoke, there stood Naruto, dressed in his blue pants and white shirt.

"Well done on everything… Congratulations Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. You pass your genin graduation exam. You are officially a ninja of Konoha!" Naruto jumped up in joy that he passed. He couldn't believe this! He was awesome!

"You are now also the official youngest genin to ever come out of Konoha Village at the age of 6 years old and two weeks. Come here Naruto so you can get your official headband." Naruto did as instructed and went over to Iruka and was handed a Konoha headband. A brand new one too. It had the Konoha leaf on it. The actual band you would use to tie around your head was blue. He wanted black but he could get that fixed later. He looked at it and then lifted it up to his forehead. He put it on and tied the back of it tight so it wouldn't come off; he was very happy right now.

"That took all of the time for today's lessons so class is dismissed." Iruka said happily.

The Next Day…

Naruto was walking to the academy for the last time. He was instructed yesterday to come back so he could meet his new sensei. People looked at him and had to look twice because of the headband that they saw. They, just like the class, couldn't believe it. Here was a kid, just 6 years old, and he made it to genin rank. He may be the 4th's kid but still, that was huge. Not even Itachi, the supposed super genius of his clan made it to genin that quick. He was six and a half when he was made a genin. They looked at him and found a little more respect for him; he must have worked really hard.

Oblivious to all the looks he was getting from everyone, Naruto just kept walking to the academy. Right now his mind was in a different place, it was on all the training he went through. It was hell to say the least. Unlocking his chakra at four years old, and then using it at five. Then mastering the basics was really hard. He also had to run constantly, do pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, all sorts of things, but it was all worth it in the end. 'Hmmmm, I wonder who my sensei will be?' he thought to himself as he continued his trek to the academy.

When he got there he saw Iruka waiting outside the door. That was unusual, but he shrugged and started to walk to the door when he stopped him with a hand to the shoulder.

"Naruto, follow me so I can show you were you can wait for your Jounin instructor." Iruka asked.

"Ahh…Why not just wait in the normal classroom?" It was a normal question to ask in the situation.

"Naruto, you are a genin now, they are not. They have to learn the basics still were you already have at an extremely young age. It would only be a waste of your time to go back into that room were you already know everything I'm going to teach." 'Man I hope that works. I just don't want to have to listen to the others ask a million questions and then have to yell at them to be quiet.' Iruka thought.

"Ah come on Iruka-sensei. I may be advanced but there is always stuff to know. I'm sure there's stuff you haven't taught me yet."

"No Naruto, just go wait in that room." 'Sorry Naruto, I don't want to be mean or anything I just don't want the headache today.' He thought to himself.

"Oh… alright! If you say so Iruka-sensei." He walked towards the room and went to sit down in one of the chairs to wait for his sensei to come. After about an hour of waiting, a man walked in with a familiar cigarette in his mouth.

"Asuma-san …. You're my new sensei?" In his mind he was thinking 'Dam never saw that one coming'

"Ah yes, Naruto I am your new sensei. Meet me on the roof and we shall talk there." With that, he poofed out of the room, probably to the roof.

Naruto watched him poof out of there and said, "Dam lazy sensei's and crap. I can't wait till I learn that jutsu. I'll make my own version that is way cooler than that stupid cloud of smoke!" With that notion he walked out of the classroom and up the stairs and then up to the roof where he saw his new sensei sitting on the railing waiting for him.

"Well, took you long enough Naruto. We're going to have to work on that speed of yours aren't we." He had this evil little smirk on his face. Naruto gulped. He only saw that look on Asuma-san when he was planning something. And by the way he was looking at me it was something I wouldn't like. 'CRAP. I'm so dead' He thought.

Two years later…

"Naruto, you are a special case to promote. Since you have no team you cannot participate in the Chunnin exams so we must test you another way. I have come up with a way for you to be promoted by another test. Two to be exact. One will be a normal test that all Chunnin should be able to do and another will be a fight against a Chunnin of my choosing. Do you except these terms Namikaze Naruto?"

The person that spoke was sitting behind a desk in the office of the Hokage tower. He was a wise person and had a nickname that all new, a name that could spread fear into enemies or hope to your allies. His nickname was 'The Professor.' It was none other than the 3rd Hokage, the Sandaime.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Good, then your test will be in two days time. Be prepared. You are dismissed. Oh and Asuma, please stay, I want to talk to you for a minute."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." With those departing thanks Naruto walked out of the office. Asuma turned back towards his father and looked at him expectantly. Yes that's right; Asuma is the 3rd's son.

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about Hokage-sama?" He still had to be formal when in the office.

"Please, you know I don't like it when you are so formal. Just stick with Sarutobi-san or Otousan (Dad) when we are in private. Now, I wanted you to stay so we could talk about Naruto and where he is living right now. I think it is time…"

Two days later…

"O.K. Naruto here is your test. Do your best on it."

"Hai, Sensei."

And so for the next hour Naruto sat in a desk in a classroom doing his test. After the hour was done Asuma came back in and asked for the paper and saw that it was finished completely. He read over the answers and wrote something on it and then gave it back to Naruto.

Naruto looked at it and when he saw it he put on a smile. He had gotten a 95 percent on it. 'Dam I was really worried there for a second. Some of those questions were really hard. I guess I know more than I thought.'

"Well, good job Naruto. Come follow me and I will lead you to were you will fight your opponent." And so they headed out the door and down the hall and into the forest that surrounded Konoha. After about 30 minutes of walking they finally came to a training ground were there were two people. One was the Hokage and the other was unknown to Naruto.

"Ah glad you could make it Naruto. I assume that you have passed the written test." He got two nods. One from Asuma, and the other from Naruto himself.

"Very well, since you passed you will move onto the final stage of your test. This is the Chunnin you will be fighting against. He has been a chunnin for 5 months. To become a Chunnin yourself, you must defeat him in a battle. You may start whenever you two are ready."

With that statement Naruto walked over to left side of the field and the other guy went to the right side, while the Hokage and his son were on the side lines. The man opposite of Naruto slipped into a battle stance and got ready but Naruto just stood there until he asked a question.

"Before we start I would like to know your name if you don't mind." Naruto asked

The man was startled a little could only look on in dumb amusement. He thought he would just want to get the fight started right away, but none the less got out of the fighting stance and stood up and gave a bow while he gave his name. Naruto did the same.

"Well then, let's get this thing started, shall we Kenji-san?" With that they both got into a fighting stance. Kenji's stance had his left foot out in front and hands at his side with arms slightly bent. Naruto choose the basic academy taijutsu stance.

They stayed in their positions for about ten seconds before they both charged at each other and then clashed with fists. Naruto caught Kenji's right hand and the same for Kenji, but with Naruto's hand. They struggled to overpower each other but couldn't. With a push they both jumped back and started seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" (Grand fireball) Naruto started off. The fire ball speed towards his opponent and was about to hit when he was replaced with a log. 'Dam a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body replacement)' were is he?' Front? No, left? No, right? No, back? No, up? No, then BELOW!'

With that he jumped up, just in time to see his opponent's hands pop out of the ground and try to grab him, right where he use to be. Since it failed, he emerged completely, only to hear a shout of…

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu" (Phoenix Immortal Fire) He dodged as quickly as he could, but one of the fifteen fireballs that were unleashed hit him in the chest. If it wasn't for his Chunnin vest he would be badly burnt, but luckily for him, he had one on. But before he could get his bearings back, he felt some one land in front of him. He looked up just in time to see a fist come and hit him in the gut and then another hit, but this time from Naruto's leg. Suddenly, he felt another kick; it was under him, sending him upwards into the sky. He opened his eyes to see his opponent appear behind him with a…

"Kage Buyo" (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf) With that said Naruto proceeded to hit his opponent in the back once, to paralyze him temporarily, and then swung around him to the front and hit him with his first once in the stomach, cheek, and both shoulders. By the time that was done they had reached the ground and Naruto pushed off his opponent and flipped to the ground, to land on his feet rather nicely. His opponent was not so lucky; he was tossed into the ground on his back and fell hard. When the dust cleared he was lying there unconscious.

With the fight over, the two watching came over to look at the two fighters. Naruto was unscathed and his opponent was in the ground hurt pretty badly.

"Well done Naruto, you passed the second test. Come, let's get this guy to the hospital and then we can talk in my office."

"Hai Hokage-sama and thank you for the compliment." Naruto was now extremely happy. He beat his opponent and he was now going to be a Chunnin, the day couldn't get any better.

After dropping off the man at the hospital and telling the doctor that he was hurt in a sparing fight, they left to the Hokage's tower and went inside. On the way they got many greetings and people tried to start small conversations. Between the Hokage, his son, and the 4th's son they had a lot of people that greeted them. When they finally made it, they went inside and the old Hokage (he's like 64 years old) sat in his chair and then motioned for the other two to do the same.

"Well done Naruto, as of today you are an official Chunnin of Konoha. With this promotion comes some more responsibility too. You will be leading missions, you will have subordinates and their lives will be in your hands. It is up to you to be a good leader and guide them through the missions. Now here is your Chunnin vest." He handed over a vest that looked a lot like his sensei's vest, but there were slight differences in them. One was the collar was shorter and it was a lighter green. Secondly, it looked to have a little less armor in it then the Jounin vest, also the Chunnin vest was slightly more rounded. It did have similarities though; they both had 6 pockets in the front for scrolls.

Naruto accepted the vest with pride and then put it on. It was specially designed for him because he was younger than and not as big as normal Chunnin yet. After putting it on Naruto looked at the Hokage and bowed.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. You don't know how much I have wanted this." Naruto was extremely happy.

"No, no Naruto, you earned it. You worked hard to get that vest and now you have it. It was all your hard work." Sarutobi replied with a smile on.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"No more formalities Naruto. You know in private you can speak with me using just my name right?"

"Hai, Hoka… I mean Sarutobi-san."

"Better but still needs work. Anyways, now for the reason I wanted us in my office in the first place. You have been living in the Sarutobi mansion for 8 years now and it is time for you to move out if you wish. Your father left me instructions on when you could get your inheritance and other things that are rightfully yours. He told me that you could be given your clan house and your father's fortune when you reach Chunnin and you have now. So without further adieu, here are the keys to your new home and the bank accounts of your family." With that he handed Naruto the keys and a slip of paper that he had gotten out of a safe behind the picture of the 4th's photo.

"Now remember Naruto, if you don't want to live by yourself and wish to stay at the Sarutobi mansion, then I will let you, but if you do decide to live by yourself than you will have to cook, clean, do everything by yourself, you won't be able to depend on others. Also you will have to be responsible with all that money your parents left you." Sarutobi really didn't want him to go and live by himself, but that was Naruto's choose if he wanted to live by himself, not his own.

"Sarutobi-san, thanks, but no thank you. I'm a ninja now and have been for the last 2 years. I can take care of myself and you know as well as I do that I'm more than responsible enough to. So thanks, but no thanks; I will live in my family home." Naruto did appreciate the old man but he wanted to prove he was responsible and was capable of taking care of himself.

"Very well then. Do you know where your house is or do you need some directions?" The old man asked.

"I know where it is. It's by the Hyuuga estate, right?"

"Yes that's right. If you ever need anything come and ask me." Sarutobi said.

"You can ask me to, after all, what kind of sensei would I be if you couldn't ask for a little help from me, right?" Naruto's sensei asked.

"Ya, no problem. Thanks again guys, I'll be sure to keep in touch with ya. See ya!" With that, he teleported out of the office, with the classic Konoha shunshin, a swirl of leafs.

"He sure has grown fast hasn't he Otousan." Asuma couldn't help but feel happy and proud about how good his student was. 'After all he will probably be in the history books some day. And I will be praised as his sensei!' He thought with a small smirk/smile.

"Yes he has. And what are you smirking about over there."

"Oh nothing..." He laughed as a walked out of his father's office.

"I wonder what that was about? Oh well, none of my business." He then turned in his chair and then looked outside his window to the Hokage monument. 'Minato, Kushina, you would be so proud of your son if you were here. He is getting stronger and stronger in life and he just keeps doing it at an amazing pace. I wouldn't be surprised if he even surpasses you some day Minato, it wouldn't surprise me at all.' He thought.

Outside of the office, Naruto was walking down the streets and was getting congratulated on his new promotion. He greeted them with thanks and then continued on his way. As he passed by a stand, he caught a whiff of a great aroma that made him turn his head that way. He was a little hungry, so why not get some food? So he walked into the stand, called Ichiraku Ramen Bar. He sat down at the counter and noticed that the place was relatively empty. There were only two other people in there. When he sat down the waitress came to him and gasped.

"Namikaze-sama, how may I help you?" The waitress asked. Naruto looked at her and released a sigh. 'Why can't people just call me by my name? Why is it always Naruto-sama, Namikaze-sama? Why not just Naruto-kun, or Naruto-san? But no, always with the formalities. AAAAAAHHHHHH! I'm sick of it!' He ranted while he hung his head down.

"Umm, did I say something wrong Namikaze-sama?" She asked.

Naruto just hung his head more at this. After a few seconds and the girl trying to apologize for something she thinks she did wrong, Naruto raised his head and looked at her. She was a couple of years older than him, maybe around twelve years old or so. She had brown hair and had an apron on with a bandanna, which was white, on her head to hold her hair from going into her face.

"No, no. There is nothing to apologize for. Really! I'm just kind of sick of people calling me Namikaze-sama or something like that. They are all too formal. Please just call me Naruto-san miss…"

"Oh! My name is Ayame." The girl told him.

"Like I said, just call me Naruto-san from now on please Ayame-chan." He said with a small smile on his face.

Ayame just nodded dumbly. Here was probably the most popular and renowned guy in Konoha, and he just asked her to talk to him normally. And he added the –chan suffix to her name, which was another surprise. Chan was used when you were close friends with a girl, not when you just meet them. Oh well, she would go with it if he wanted her to.

"Alright Naruto-san, what can I get for you today?" She asked with a smile on.

Naruto smiled right back and replied, "I would like a bowl of chicken ramen please."

"Of course, it will be ready in a couple of minutes. Would you like something to drink in the mean time?"

"Yes, just get me some tea for now, no preference." She nodded and walked around back, but came back a moment later with a cup of tea. Another five minutes and his ramen was in front of him. He grabbed a pair of chop sticks and broke them apart and said:

"Itadakimasu!" (Way of saying respect for the food given to you)

With that, he dug into the ramen and started to eat the noodle, chicken and soup. He liked it a lot. He ate it in about five minutes and then asked for another bowl of the stuff. He got his second bowl a few minutes later and ate that one also in about 5 minutes. 'Damn, that was some good stuff.' He thought to himself.

"Well that was excellent, I'll be sure to tell others about this place. I really liked it, Ayame-chan. I'll be seeing you around O.K.?" He got up and put some money on the table before he left out the curtain and waved as he left.

"Who was that Ayame-chan?" An older voice asked form around the corner. When he came around he was wiping his hands down on a towel. He was an older man in his late 30's or so, he had on a chief hat and wore a white chief coat.

"That was Naruto-san, you probably know of him as Namikaze-sama." She watched her father's reaction intently. He dropped the towel on the floor and had his mouth agape.

"The, Namikaze? As in the 4th Hokage's son?" He asked, a little startled that he would come to a place like this. His daughter Ayame just nodded.

"Yes, Teuchi (name of dad) it was the Namikaze Naruto, but he doesn't like being called by his last name, he thinks it is too formal. So he asked me to call him Naruto-san, and I did." She replied.

"Well, what did he think about the food?!" He half asked, half shouted.

"He really liked it! He had two bowls of chicken soup. He even said that he would recommend us to others." She replied like it was nothing.

Teuchi was lost for words at that moment. The Namikaze came to his place **and** got two bowls of his food **and** he liked it! Then he said he would suggest the stand to other people! His face broke out into a huge grin.

"Otousan, why are you grinning?" That grin kind of creped her out a little.

"You don't get it do you? If Namikaze-sama suggests us to other people, others will surely come, and if he comes again, and from what you told me he will, then this place will be busier than ever. We will make a fortune!" He said with dollar signs in his eyes.

Ayame could only shake her head at his antics and go back to work.

At that very moment, Naruto was walking down the street towards his supposedly new home that was once his parents. As he walked down the road he got more polite nods and even some greetings, which was the life he came to know. Everyone knew about him and what he did. The second something happened with him, it seemed as though the entire village would know about it before he could even travel half way through it on foot. 'I guess everyone will know every time I do something new or accomplish something. It is kind of scary of how fast gossip travels in this town. I swear that gossip travels faster than any ninja could in this village.' He thought as he continued to walk down the road.

As he did so, he got closer and closer to the richer part of town. After another ten minutes of walking, he came to a big gate that was in the middle of the forest. He opened it up and walked through. As he kept walking he noticed the landscape. It was a nice open front yard with some trees here and there. After some time on foot he came upon a house. Well some may call it a house but others may call it a mansion, although Naruto considered it a house. It just didn't have the mansion feel to it. It was big, he would give anyone that, but it wasn't amazing like a mansion, but felt more like an actual house. Although he has gotten lost the few times, he had been inside the place before.

It was your normal looking house, two stories tall, with the front door in the middle, windows here and there. On the second floor there were patios, so you could get some fresh air. In the front there were bushes all around the house and more trees in the distance. After checking the place out for a minute he decided to head on in.

"With out further adieu." He said to no one in particular, more to himself to get out of his musing for so long. So he walked up to the front door and pulled out the key the old man had given him and put it into the key hole on the front door and turned. With that, the lock was undone opening up his new home.

After walking into the house, the first thing he noticed were the stairs that lead to the second floor, a little way in front of him, and then the hallway he was in. There was a closet to put coats and stuff in, but he left all his stuff at the Sarutobi mansion for now, he would pick it up later. Right now he had a house to explore. With that exact thought in mind he wandered the halls. He found a bathroom, a living room, kitchen, dining room, another bathroom, and a bar. Then he found where he would most likely be spending most of his time in, the training room. There were weapons of every kind on the walls. There were mats everywhere, and it lead outside into the back yard that was absolutely huge, to say the least. The clearing had to be at least 500 feet big! There were trees, again surrounding the training area, that lead farther out into Konoha, or outside of Konoha to be more precise. There was a small river going through the training ground that went into a lake about a mile away from his house. That would be a great source to practice his water jutsu!

After checking out the back yard, he went back inside to look at the upstairs. Once on the second floor, he went into the main hallway, then split off into smaller ones most likely, he would find out. As he went down the hallway he checked out each room as he passed. There were a total of eight bedrooms on this floor. But the main bedroom was absolutely great.

In the middle of the room was a huge bed. Upon closer inspection, it was a king sized bed with blue sheets over it for coverings and what looked like very comfy pillows. Continuing on with the observation of the room, he found a walk- in closet that was huge also; it had to be twenty feet by ten feet! That was insane! If he ever had that many clothes, he would be crazy. But hey, the space would probably get used some time or another in his life time! After recovering from the HUGE closet he went into the personal bathroom and found it was also huge. There was a counter were the sink was and two cabinets. Then there was a big walk in shower, over all, the master bedroom was very, very nice!

He continued down the hall and also found there were two storage rooms and two more bathrooms on the second floor. Oh, let's not forget the walk out balconies that were all over the front and back yards to look out and enjoy nature! He went downstairs and couldn't help but wonder were the library was? According to the old man, there was an absolutely huge library just full of everything a ninja could ever want, from techniques, ranging in all the elements, to taijutsu, to Genjutsu, to history! It was all there, but the problem was he couldn't find it! After another ten minutes of walking down the same paths, he got frustrated.

"Were the hell is the library!" Then he suddenly remembered the old man Hokage talking about the library once when he asked about his parent house.

Flashback…

Naruto was 7 years old and was talking to the old man when a question suddenly became apparent to him, so being curious and knowing the old man would be able to answer them, he asked.

"Hey Sarutobi-san?" Hearing his name called, he looked down towards Naruto and said, "What is it you need Naruto?"

"Well I was just wondering, you know how you said my parents have this huge library and stuff, with more stuff than the Hokage's building has?" Here he nodes and motions for him to continue which he does. "Well I've been there before but I have never seen this library before, where is it?"

Sarutobi looked thoughtful for a minute before he replied, "Well you know that kind of information can't get out into the open right?" It was Naruto's turn to nod this time. "Well since your parents had such a large amount of books, filled with very important things and since your father was a seal master, he created seals all around the room to make it invisible to the human eye. It is like a Genjutsu, but is more advanced, what with the amount of seals he put on there, to add to the security. He made it so only a select few could get in, those people were restricted to just his family, in other words, you."

Naruto had a look of awe on his face at that moment. He knew his dad was a seal master, but to be this good was unbelievable. Making an entire room disappear would take very intricate seals, and they would need to be done right and put into the right spots too. But this added another question.

"If it is invisible to the human eye, then how am I supposed to see it? Can I see through it because I'm family?"

"Very good question Naruto, you surprise me again with that brain of yours, no, you cannot see through it either. It is just as invisible to you as it is to me, but for you to see it; you have to do certain hand seals in front of where the door is supposed to be and then swipe a little blood on the wall and it will show itself. Even so, only you or your family can enter no one else, not even me. The door will recognize your blood and body and let you in. It also has other safety features, like chakra signatures, blood, and body scans. These will all be checked when you touch the door handle, if you are deemed as a Namikaze, then you can enter. If not then it will never open for you no matter what you try. If you try to force it to open with a jutsu, you will be attacked with hidden weapons that would kill you before you even know it. It is the most secure thing in this entire village, and once you leave, if you want to put the invisibility on the door again, than all you need to do is some more hand seals and put some of your blood on the door. That's about it"

Flashback End…

So making his way down the hallway to were the door is suppose to be, but isn't, he goes through some hand seals and then bites his thumb and swipes some onto the wall, and presto, the wall warps and there is a door there in its wake! He reaches out and touches the handle, but nothing happens, so he assumes that it is working and turns it, it moves and then he pushes it open. What he sees is breath taking. The room is huge! It must be at least 50 feet long and 30 feet wide. And it was just crammed full of books! They were everywhere, he could probably spend the next six years of his life in here and just read and still not be done with them all, it was that big!

Then, he noticed something that caught his eye; it was a safe about 6 feet tall. He walked over and looked it over; there was no handle what so ever on it, so it had to be the work of some kind of seal again. Then he saw the actual seal on it. It was very complex, like all the others he'd seen so far.

"Damn! I have no idea what these things mean! I wonder if it is another blood seal thing, hopefully this time I don't have to use hand seals though, the old man never mentioned this! Oh well couldn't hurt to try." He bit his thumb again, just enough to draw blood and then spread it over the seal on the safe. Surprisingly it opened up!

"Well I'll be, it actually worked, sweat! Now, let's see what's in here." He looked and found there to be about twelve scrolls in there, but one in particular caught his attention. He picked it up and looked at the title.

"Namikaze Bloodline Limit. I knew I had one, and that it allowed me to do the Hiraishin no jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) and the advanced shunshin no jutsu. I wonder what it says…"

And so for the next few hours he looked at that scroll and a few others in the library as well. He then noticed the time and decided to go to bed for the night. He would have plenty of time to read more later.

Author Notes:

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Battousai222. There's the second chapter. I hope you liked it a lot. I have decided what I'm going to do for the pairings and it will be final! If you don't like my decision you can stop reading but I wouldn't if I were you. You never know, you could end up liking the pairing. Well the pairing will be Naruto X Female Haku. NO HAREM! I just don't like these things. I like reading them and stuff. I have no personal grudge against them at all. Actually in some stories they are really good. But my stories will always have just one person as a wife or girlfriend.

You people out there helped me decide this. You know who you are too! The reason there will be no harem is because it is just the way I like it and that it seemed that more people wanted this to. That is all. Please no flames about this.

Now for me to answer some questions that I already didn't answer in replies or I want you all to know.

One: Minato's wife Kushina went into battle with the Kyuubi and fought it because she was an ANBU captain and she had to lead her squad and buy some time for Minato to get the seal ready on the battle field. She died trying to buy time in the battle.

Two: The seal was a design were it had to have paper seals on the ground all over the place in a huge area in specific areas and if one was off by more than an inch it would fail. So Minato did it himself. That is why it took so long for him to get there.

Three: Naruto's birthday is October 6th. Four days before the Kyuubi reached the village.

Well there you go. Constructive criticism is welcome any time. Any questions I'll try to answer in replies or in the next chapter or later in the story.

Review…


	3. Teams Are Made

Well here's chapter three. I hope you enjoy it.

Took me awhile to do it because of school and stuff.

Don't know why I'm going to do this but others always do it, so I will to. It was probable in one of the guidelines or some thing and I didn't read them that well so here goes nothing.

I do not own Naruto in any way what so ever. Never will!

Take that you fucking lawyers! Hahahahahahaha. You'll never capture me alive! Mu Ha Ha Ha Ha coughs….Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha….!!!!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Teams Are Made

"Target acquired, what are your orders, captain?"

"Stand down; I'll take care of this one personally."

"Hai." All of this was said in a whisper up in the trees, about 300 feet above the target. Suddenly, one of the ninja, who was going to attack, stepped in front of the others. He did five hand seals and grabbed his wrist with his left hand and had his right hand, palm pointed down wards. The hand itself was open, like it was going to hold a ball of some sorts. Then all of a sudden a red light started to form in his right hand, after about three seconds, the ball took on a shape, it was fire he was holding. But this fire seemed to be super heated and very compact. There was a ring of fire at his feet underneath him too. The jutsu he was using was very powerful; the chakra used in the attack could actually be seen, which was nearly impossible, unless used in huge amounts.

Suddenly, the person with the fire in his palm ran forward at inhuman speeds. To any one but a ninja he would be just a blur. In seconds, he reached his target and thrust his right hand forward into the man's chest. His hand went through the flesh and bone like it was butter and easily came out the back. His hand was right were the targets heart should have been, the target was dead before he even knew what happened.

When the man died, he fell over onto his back and lay there motionlessly. Yep, he was definitely dead, anybody could tell you that. The second that the attack had struck and went through him, the skin cauterized around the wound.

"Captain, you did a great job, we'll take care of the body and head back to Konoha."

"Hai, take care of that, you have a minute."

"Hai Captain!" With that, they went over to the body and chopped off the head so they could have proof of the kill and then used a Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (Grand Fire ball) to burn the body so there would be no remains left.

"Sir, we are ready to leave."

"Good, let's head back home." With that, they took off into the trees and headed to Konoha. About half way there the captain was still in front and his team behind him, the team was having a discussion about what they just saw.

In just a whisper so as to make sure the captain would not hear, they moved back some ways and started to talk to each other.

"Hey guys, what was that jutsu that he used back there? I've never seen something like that before."

His companions looked at him with a look of disbelief on there faces. They had all seen him us that technique before, he had to on other missions before, so why was this guy asking stupid questions?

"That's right; you are new to our team aren't you? Well you see, captain there" Here he points at their captain that was still running up in front with them following, "Well he made that jutsu. It's his creation, a personal jutsu. It's called Kaizuki,** a**lso known as the Fire Blade. I hear that it was based off of Hatake Kakashi's Raikiri, another personal jutsu."

Here the man gasped, Hatake Kakashi was famous throughout the shinobi world.

"Yeah, I know, that's our captain. The Kaizuki is considered an S-rank jutsu that is used for assassinations. It creates fire in the hand so hot that it can go through anything, literally. It also somehow doesn't hurt him in any way; it truly is a scary technique."

"Wow, I knew he was strong and stuff but- Wow!"

"Yeah, that's our leader. He's only thirteen and he has already made it to the position of Anbu captain. That is unheard of, except for Uchiha Itachi; he truly is a genius and prodigy."

"Daaaaammmnnnn. Fox-sama sure is strong."

"Come on people! Let's keep the chatter down and keep moving; I want to be back before five." With that said Naruto speed up with his team of elite Anbu following closely behind.

Later on, at the eastern gates of Konoha, we find two Anbu peering out into the surrounding woods when they both suddenly stiffen before one Anbu captain lands in front of them, followed two seconds later by a group of ten more Anbu. They both recognize them immediately and tell them that they can enter and one of them steps up to the captain.

"Captain, the Hokage wishes to see you right away." Naruto nods his head to the Anbu at the gate and then turns to his team.

"You are to return to Anbu headquarters and drop off our package and then you can have the rest of the day off. Dismissed!"

"Hai, Captain!" They all speed off into the distance. Naruto just shook his head and then disappeared with a shunshin no jutsu, but this wasn't the normal shunshin. Oh no, normal would be a swirl of leafs or a poof of smoke, nope this shunshin engulfed Naruto in flames starting at his feet and then spread upward, up and above his head and then downward again back to his feet. It didn't even leave a scorch mark on the ground!

The two Anbu watching the east gate looked at the sight of the captain disappearing in a pillar of flames with awe. They stared for some time before they snapped out of it and went back to guarding.

"How do you think he does that?" One of the guards asked.

"No idea at all, but he is famous for all the different shunshin's he knows."

"How? I thought there were only two shunshins in Konoha, the leaf and cloud of smoke?"

"Yeah, you're right; there are only two that Konoha knows, but Fox-sama has become famous in Konoha, not just by his name or by his rank at such a young age, but also by his nickname."

"Oh and what would that be?" The first asked in a sing song voice, trying to be sarcastic.

"His nickname is 'Shunshin no Kazama.' It is rather appropriate really, seeing as he has invented at least five new shunshins by himself! From the last count I heard, at least."

"FIVE! He created FIVE new ones…… That's ……..that's…….."

"Incredible, yep, I know. Now lets go back to work I don't want to get on the bad side of our superior." They both shuddered at that.

Across town in the Hokage's tower, you would find an old man doing paper work behind a desk. This is the scene that Naruto comes into. Well, teleported into anyway. The Hokage looked up when he sensed that someone was coming into his office via shunshin no jutsu. He recognized the chakra signature anywhere, it was Naruto alright. If it were anyone else, he would have just kept doing paper work, but he knew about Naruto's nick name, everyone did and everyone wanted to see his new techniques too, the Hokage included.

Looking up and seeing a fire start on the floor, the Hokage was shocked when the fire grows into a pillar about 5 feet tall, then goes back down to the floor, disappearing. He was used to seeing Naruto do things like this, so he managed to keep his composure.

"Ah, what can I do for you Fox?" That was Naruto's Anbu code name, Fox. Each Anbu had a mask and a code name, that way no one can tell who you are; Naruto's mask matched his codename.

"You wanted to see me right when I got back, Hokage-sama."

"Ah yes, I know, can you take a seat this may take a while Fox."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Naruto took his seat right in front of Sarutobi's desk and watched as he filled his pipe with tobacco and then lit it. He took a poof of smoke and then let it out with a content sigh.

"I called you, Fox, because I am going to be taking you out of the Anbu." 'O.K. here it comes, 5….4….3….2….1….'

"What! May I know why you are doing this Hokage-sama?"

"Of course you can Fox, as you know, you have a very impressive track record." He pulled out a folder from in his drawer and then held it up so he could read it.

"Your record states that you graduated the academy at six years old, becoming the earliest to ever graduate from the academy. Then at the age of eight you made it to Chunnin, then at ten you joined the Anbu, again breaking the old record. At eleven you became a Captain of a team of Anbu, breaking yet another record. Now you are thirteen years old. You have completed 20 D-rank missions, 32 C-rank missions, 12 B-rank missions, 33 A-rank missions, and 18 S-rank missions. You have never had any failures and you have never lost a comrade in battle. That is a very good record, even for someone twice as old as you are."

He let that information sink into Naruto's head and when Naruto couldn't stand the wait any longer the blond spoke up…

"I already know that Hokage-sama! So why are you taking me out of the Anbu? I could be of great use to the village!"

"Ah Fox, calm down a little, this is not the end of the world and I have a very good reason to take you out of the Anbu. That is because you have no experience with people your age what so ever, you may be a good shinobi but you don't know how to have fun and act around people your own age. You need to spend some time with your own age group or at least around your own age group. That is why I am taking you off the Anbu squad. Now please take off your mask, from this moment on you are no longer an Anbu Captain but a Jounin of this village."

After he said this, Naruto looked him straight in the eye and could see that he was completely serious and there was no way that he was going to be able to get out of this with arguing. The Hokage had made up his mind. So Naruto reluctantly took off his mask and let his face be shown. He had golden blond hair just like the 4th, bright blue eyes and a soft face that was pretty well chiseled for the age of thirteen. After removing his mask, he put it into the pouch on his waist and stood for his next orders.

"Thank you for seeing it my way Naruto-kun, you will thank me for this later. Besides, being a Jounin isn't that bad. Go back to Anbu HQ and tell your team that you have been made a Jounin and they will have a new team leader. Also grab any thing you want there and bring it to your house. That is all, you are dismissed."

Naruto was just about to shunshin out of the office when he heard him say…

"Oh, before I forget, there is a Jounin meeting in two days time, make sure you are there Naruto-kun."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." With that Naruto shunshin-ed out of his office, towards Anbu HQ to inform his team and get his things. The Hokage let out a sigh as he disappeared the same way he came, with the fire shunshin he created. He could only shake his head and go back to the one thing that all Kages could never beat, the evil of the world, paperwork!

Two days later…

All of the Jounins of the village were in the Hokage's tower waiting for two more people to show up. Those two were the Hokage and one newly appointed Jounin that they were informed about, but weren't given the name of. Surprisingly, even Hatake Kakashi was on time, you see he got over his lateness when he spoke with Namikaze Naruto. No one knows what they talked about but he always showed up on time when it came to orders from the Hokage or important events. Unfortunately, that didn't stop his lateness completely; you see he is still late quite often to anything that is not on the orders of the Hokage.

Each of the Jounins was talking in their own little groups, when suddenly a puddle began forming on the floor. That puddle grew to about 3 feet wide, every Jounin tensed and prepared for a battle. Then that puddle started to move upward and it formed the shape of a man, until the water that was covering the man slid off of him and back to the puddle he was standing in. Amazingly, the water disappeared, not even leaving a drop.

"NARUTO-KUN! ALWAYS WITH YOUR FANCY ENTRYS! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE MOST IMPRESSIVE!" That was the shout of one Maito Gai, the green beast of Konoha.

Everyone in the room sweat dropped at that comment and went back to talking with each other. Naruto walked toward Gai and looked him over real quick.

He had on the most disgusting looking green spandex suit that any one on the planet could ever have. He had orange leg warmers on both legs with normal shinobi boots. His head was another freak show; he had bowl cut hair with the biggest eye brows you have ever seen. For god sakes they look alive!

"Hello to you to Gai-san." He turned towards the others and gave each a nod. "Kakashi-san, Kurenai-san, Asuma-sensei." They greeted him like wise.

"So you have finally made Jounin, I was wondering when you would quit Anbu and become a Jounin." Asuma said with a pat on the shoulder.

"It was not my choice, Asuma-sensei, Hokage-sama made me leave Anbu. He said he had his reasons and that I would find out those reasons today."

"Ah, I see, well I'll tell ya this, being Jounin isn't that bad, you'll like it a lot." Asuma replied.

"Yeah, we'll see." Naruto seriously had a lot of doubts.

"Naruto-kun, trust me it's not that bad." Kurenai said with a reassuring smile on her face.

"SHE IS RIGHT NARUTO-KUN! YOU WILL LOVE BEING A JOUNIN!" Again half the room sweat dropped.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you guys are right." Naruto said while putting his hand behind his head and rubbing it.

After that it was normal talk about this and that, until the Hokage walked in and everyone became quiet. Sarutobi went over to his desk and then sat down; he then put some tobacco into his pipe and lit it before looking at everyone.

"Well I'm glad you're all here, we have some things to discuss today, the first would be the incident that happened yesterday involving Mizuki. I am happy to say that he failed in his theft and was brought down by Naruto here." Here he points in Naruto's direction then continues.

"He stole the scroll of sealing in the hopes of gaining power. He was discovered and we sent search parties after him. Umino Iruka, a Chunnin and Namikaze Naruto, a Jounin successfully found him, defeated him and brought back the scroll."

After that was said, he talked about some other stuff involving village security and then went on to other things.

During this all, Naruto was remembering what happened last night.

The night before…

All of the village's chunnin were out looking for the traitor Mizuki and were having no luck in finding him. Iruka was in hot pursuit of him at that time.

Mizuki was running through the forest when suddenly there was a volley of shuriken that came at him that he was forced to dodge or be killed. So he jumped down to the forest floor and watched as Iruka landed in front of him.

"Mizuki! What are you doing? Are you betraying the village!?" Iruka yelled.

"Hahahahahah…. Ah man you're just the person I was hoping to run into. I have always wanted to kill you! And YES, I am betraying this worthless village of yours!"

"What… I won't let you get out of this village with that scroll Mizuki!" Iruka responded in confusion that turned into anger, to think that a fellow leaf nin would try to betray them.

"As if you could stop me!" Mizuki responded with a scowl.

With that they ran at each other, Mizuki pulled out a fuma Shuriken (Very big Shuriken) and tossed it at Iruka, while Iruka pulled out some Kunai and launched them at the incoming fuma Shuriken. The Kunai hit the fuma shuriken and deflected it enough to make it fly harmlessly past him. The two were just about to charge each other again, when a single kunai landed in between them. They both turned to see none other than Namikaze Naruto.

"Now what are you two doing out here this late sparing? More importantly, why do you have my fathers forbidden scroll Mizuki?" Naruto knew what was going on but decided to play along any way, for the hell of it.

"Naruto! We have to stop him; he stole the forbidden scroll of seals and plans to leave Konoha with it!" Iruka yelled getting Naruto's attention.

Naruto looked at Iruka and could tell he was telling the truth, so he then turned back to Mizuki.

"Is this true Mizuki? You wouldn't steal my fathers scroll and then try to leave with it would you?" This was said with an all too sweet and quiet voice that sent chills down both Iruka's and Mizuki's spines.

"Yeah that's right, y…you won't be able to stop me either, I…I'll take this scroll and…." He stopped there because he reached behind him where the scroll was supposed to be, but he noticed that there was just a log there. He looked back at Naruto and found that he was leaning on the scroll up in the tree.

"H…h…h…how d...d…did y...you… g...g...get t…the s...scroll?" He asked with a 'scared to crap' voice. 'If he can get the scroll from me and I didn't even notice…….how the hell am I suppose to beat him?!' he thought to himself while taking steps backwards.

"Well that is quite simple actually, but seeing as you won't be awake for awhile, I don't see why I should tell you." With that, Naruto tossed the scroll of seals down to Iruka who caught it in his arms, then he jumped down from the trees and started to walk up to Mizuki.

Mizuki kept taking steps away from Naruto until he got so nervous that he just spun around and started to run. He got two steps before he saw Naruto appear in front of him and was punched in the gut, making him double over in pain and lack of air. The last thing he felt was a pain in his neck before darkness claimed him.

"Well that's taken care of; shall we take him and the scroll back to Konoha? I'm sure the Hokage would want to know that this problem has been taken care of." Naruto asked a stunned Iruka.

'I didn't even see him move, incredible!' The chuunin thought to himself. He was only able to nod dumbly to the question and started to walk back to Konoha with Naruto.

Back to the present in the Jounin meeting…

"Now, onto the final topic for today." Here many perked up because they wanted to get out of the damn meeting.

Sarutobi continued on. "As many of you might already know, we have just had the genin graduation exams and teams are ready to be trained by Jounin senseis. You all know that we need good teachers, this year especially, because of the amount of talent we have. We have many that are from clans and some that aren't but still have enormous potential to be great, so any one that wishes to be a Jounin sensei, please take a step forward."

With that nine people stepped forward, among them were Hatake Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai, and Sarutobi Asuma.

"Very well, we have enough Jounins to take the teams. Now already I, along with the chunnin teachers who taught this class, have made the teams. So now it is just up to you on who you want to teach."

With that, the nine Jounins started to look over the teams and after a little arguing they came out with who they wanted.

"Alright, I see that you have gotten the teams chosen amongst yourselves, let's here who got who." The Hokage said.

"I, Hatake Kakashi will take team 7. This team is Haruno Sakura, Sai, and Uchiha Sasuke."

"I, Yuhi Kurenai will take team 8, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino."

"I, Sarutobi Asuma will take team 10; that would be Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji."

Then the other six Jounin went their turn on saying what team they would take and then who was in it. After all was said and done, everyone was expecting the 3rd to end the meeting but it seemed he had a little surprise.

"Very good choices, I like them all but one team." Here many were startled; the teams looked really good in their eyes.

"Who would that be Hokage-sama?" Some random Jounin asked.

"That was what I was about to tell you, the team consisting of Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. The team itself is fine, but their sensei is not."

"What?!" Asuma had narrowed his eyes at his father at this point. "But Hokage-sama, what is wrong with me teaching these kids? I think I would make a great teacher!" Asuma practically yelled at his father in barely restrained anger.

"Now Asuma, I don't mean any thing bad by this, and I am very well aware that you could teach them. Your example was set in how well you taught Naruto, he turned out great, but the fact is I want some one else to do it. That someone is you, Namikaze Naruto."

Everyone in the room suddenly felt the room temperate drop by a few degrees. They turned their heads to the one that was emitting the chilling felling, Naruto.

"What do you mean that I'll be teaching these brats, Hokage-sama? You and Asuma-sensei said so yourselves, that he could do it, so let him." Naruto said this in a way that made some of the people's spines tingle.

"No Naruto, you will be the one that teaches them. Remember the conversation we had two days ago? This is what I was talking about." Sarutobi replied with a fixed gaze at Naruto.

"But Hokage-sama, you know Asuma would…" Here he was cut off by a raise of the hand indicating the Hokage wanted silence. Everyone knew to shut their mouths when he did this.

"Naruto, this is not up for discussion, you will be taking this team, do I make myself clear?" Sarutobi said this in a very stern voice that gave no room for argument what so ever.

After several seconds of glaring/staring at each other, Naruto finally relented because he saw that there was no way to get out of this.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He replied.

With that out of the way, Sarutobi brought back his smile and nodded his head. "Very well, the meeting is adjourned. You are all dismissed."

Everyone was about to turn and walk out the door when they heard lightning crackle and they all stiffened, ready for a fight…again. All they saw was that Naruto was emitting the lightning. This happened for a few, brief seconds, before it completely covered him, before it collapsed on itself and Naruto was gone.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, wondering if what they had seen was real or not, until some one broke the silence.

"Well, DAMN! That was freaking awesome! How does he keep coming up with these things!?" Some random Jounin asked.

Everyone had to agree with that. 'To use lightning as a means to teleport is just sweet!'

"YOSH! NARUTO"S FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY! THEY ARE GETTING BETTER AND BETTER EVERYDAY! I WILL NOT BE LEFT BEHIND; I WILL TRAIN HARDER THAN EVER TO PROVE MY OWN FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN JUST AS BRIGHTLY AS NARUTO'S!" Everyone sweat dropped at Gai's antics.

With that done, everyone else left the Hokage's tower and left one old man trying all he could to get the green beast of Konoha out of his office.

Author Notes:

Well for those that do review thanks for that. They really do make me happy. I respond to all reviews that I get in some way or another when they have a question or are longer than one statement. So if you have a question, feel free to ask. I will answer them or at least tell ya that you will have to wait for the answer.

On another note sorry that this is kind of short compared to the other chapters, but I've read a lot shorter ones myself. This will most likely be the normal length for the chapter. Not as long as last time but still pretty long.

Review…


	4. Pass or Fail, Genin Test

Here's chapter four for you all. Thanks for all the reviews people. I got a total of fifty-one for the whole story and twenty-two for chapter three. That is a lot more than I expected. Thanks guys and girls.

Now for a little rant of mine. The manga of Naruto **REALLY** pisses me off, a lot!!! More on this topic at the end of the chapter. Now for what you all want. The new chapter!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Pass or Fail, Genin Test

"Ino-pig, get out of my way! I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" That was the shout of a girl with pink hair that went down to her mid back.

"Who are you calling pig! Forehead girl! Besides, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" That was the shout of a girl in blond hair that was in a pony tail that also went down to her mid back.

"Piff…. Troublesome women."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Both girls shout out at the kid that just spoke up. He had black hair that was tied into a pony tail. He had the head of a pineapple.

"Will you both just shut up? God! You're hurting my ears!" That was a boy with brown hair that had a dog in his shirt.

The yelling continued to go on and on until the door opened up and in came the sensei. Of course everyone in the room couldn't care less because they were at each others throats. Of course some were being good and just sat there and minded there own business.

The sensei walked over to the middle of the front of the class and put some papers down. He looked up and couldn't help but sweat drop at the 'children'. They were acting like brats and they wanted to be shinobi.

"Ah hem." That got no reaction out of all the girls in the room. The boys though did notice and stopped there talking with each other like normal people and sat at there seats and waited for there sensei to continue.

"AH HEM!" Still no reaction out of half the class.

"COUGH!" Nothing….

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN IN YOUR SEATS!" That got there attention.

"Good now that I have your undivided attention, I can start your last lesson and you will then be placed into your teams."

With that the room fell silent and the sensei started his last lesson.

Elsewhere in the town of Konoha…

Everyone in the room sweat dropped at what they just witnessed. There were four people in the room. They were all standing around a crystal ball that had a picture of the classroom were the 'children' just got yelled at.

"Dam… I haven't seen that jutsu for years. What was it again? The big-headed evil face jutsu or something like that he called it? I can't remember." A guy with blond hair stated.

"Yes Naruto-kun. That's exactly right." Another person replied to his statement.

"Well it looks like Iruka-sensei is doing well." The blonde replied.

"Yes well thanks to you he is. If you didn't show up two nights ago it could have turned out completely different Naruto-kun."

"No need to thank me Hokage-sama. It is my job after all." The Blonde also known as Naruto said to there Hokage

"Tish… It also helps that he stole your family scroll too, doesn't it Naruto?" One of the others asked.

"Ya, well you know how it is Kakashi. It wouldn't really matter even if he did get away with it though. No one but me can open it."

"Very true Naruto-kun." The Hokage piped in.

"Say Hokage-sama. Why is it that the scroll is in the tower in the first place? Shouldn't it be in Naruto-kuns library? After all it is safer there." That was the voice of Yuhi Kurenai.

"Yes you are right Kurenai. The reason it was at the tower is because I was adding another jutsu to the scroll. I left it in the scroll library for Naruto to pick up later. When he found it missing he went and asked me were I put it or if I was done yet. I was naturally surprised that the scroll wasn't there. We looked at the security taped and found that Mizuki stole it. I ordered him found and brought back by any means necessary. Naruto here went out and looked for it also. He just happened to find it with Iruka and you all know what happened after that." The old man finished.

They all nodded.

"Now back on topic. I have brought you all here so you can get a little glimpse of your teams before you meet them. You know who they are by there profile that each of you have been handed. Take a look."

All three of the Jounins did as told and watched as the student listened intently to Iruka.

Back in the classroom…

"Now I will name each team and there sensei." Everyone leaned forward and listened intently to what would be said.

"Team one….Team two…. Team three…. Team four…. Team five…. Team six… Team seven will be Sai, Haruno Sakura…"

Sakura bangs her head on her desk saying "why me… why me…" over and over again.

Ino smirks and says, "Ha, looks like you got paired with Sai forehead girl."

"Shut up Ino pig!"

Iruka finishes the team off with, "And Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin instructor is Hatake Kakashi."

Ino is dumbstruck and yells saying it's not fair or some crap like that. While Sakura is cheering that she has her Sasuke-kun on her team.

Sasuke himself just sits there with his hands folded under chin looking passive. No one knows but on the inside he is banging his head against a wall crying that life isn't fair. 'Damn! Stuck with a fan girl and the smart ass. Just great. They better not get in my way.' He thought to himself.

Iruka continues on through the yelling. "The next team is team eight, which will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Your Jounin sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai." Shino just nodded. Hinata nodded as well, but Ino was complaining that she should be on Sasukes team, not Sakura.

Iruka just ignored them and continued onto the next team. "Team ten will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. Your Jounin sensei will be…"

He stopped there and just stared at the paper. Everyone looked at him wondering what caught his attention. Being loud like she was, Sakura decided to ask what was wrong.

"Sensei, what's wrong?"

"Oh sorry about that. Just lost in memory there for a minute that is all. Now were was I. Ah yes. That's right. Team tens Jounin Sensei will be…… Namikaze Naruto."

That got a lot of talk through out the class. It was no secret that the last Namikaze was strong and that he was famous everywhere. Not just in the fire country either. They had learned a lot about him and his father in class. He was considered a genius amongst all geniuses.

"Right. Quite down class. Now for the last two teams…" He said those and then told them a great speech about how you should act as a shinobi and never give up in life and to be the best you can be. After that was done he was just about to excuse them for lunch when a hand shot up into the air.

"Yes. What is it Sakura?" Iruka asked.

"Can you tell us more about Namikaze-sama? We only know a little about him." Everyone in the class looked eagerly at there sensei for this answer.

With a sigh of defeat he looked up to his students and knew he wouldn't get away with not telling them something. So he reluctantly did so.

"I guess you don't know a lot about him do you. Can any of you tell me what you do know about him?"

Sakura being the smartest of the class started it off. "Well I know that he is Yondaime-sama's son. He is supposed to be really strong and he graduated the academy at a really young age. He is now a Jounin from what you have just told us."

"Good Sakura. Does any one else know any thing about him?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. But yes, I know some things about him to. He has earned a nickname through out Konoha as 'Shunshin no Namikaze'. He has created over two new shunshins unique to only him. I haven't seen any of them myself but from what I have been told by my parents is that they are quite the sight to see."

"That is mostly right Shikamaru. Your info must be a little old though because the last I heard he created five new shunshins." Iruka corrected and gained a collective gasp that was heard through out the class room. The shunshins were said to be really hard to create. But he made five!

"Is there any thing else you know about him?" He looked around the class and found that no one else was going to speak so he decided to stun them a little and at the same time bring them down a peg or two… or a couple million he added as an after thought.

"No one else knows any thing about Namikaze-sama. Well I guess that I can tell you a little more about him then. Let's see….. His full name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. He took both his fathers and mothers names. He graduated at the age of six years old from the academy."

Here everyone in the class room gasped at him.

"SIX! You have got to be lying. That's impossible isn't it?" Kiba all but yelled.

"No Kiba. I was his teacher then. He graduated at the age of only six. He is the youngest person to ever graduate from the academy in all of Konoha history. Even Uchiha Itachi graduated younger than him."

Again people were speechless. But here Sasuke balls his fists in anger. It was no secret to any one in Konoha that Sasukes older brother, Uchiha Itachi, killed his entire clan. The Uchiha clan, the second noblest clan in Konoha. No one knows why he did it but he did. He left no survivors except for his younger brother. But he didn't leave him unharmed. He left him emotionally distressed. He made Sasuke live through the whole clan massacre again by the use of the Mangekyo Sharingan and then proceeded to torture him mentally.

Iruka continued on. "Then he was put under a sensei just like all of you. Two years later he was promoted to the rank of Chunnin at the age of eight. Then at the age of ten he joined the Anbu. Again this is a record he broke. A year later he was promoted to that of Anbu captain at the age of eleven. He again broke the old record of thirteen set by Uchiha Itachi, and made it eleven to be the youngest Anbu captain ever to come out of Konoha. Now he is thirteen years old and is a Jounin sensei."

The classroom was completely aw struck. Namikaze Naruto broke three records of graduating or being promoted.

"That's….Incredible!" Most had to agree with Kiba's outburst. It was indeed very incredible.

"Now you all know a little about Namikaze-sama. I hope that gave you every thing you wanted to know. Now it is time for lunch. Please return here afterwards to meet your Jounin sensei. You're all dismissed."

Iruka watched all of them walk out of there in half a daze. He had to suppress a smirk. That defiantly brought them down a peg or a million.

Elsewhere…

At the Hokage's tower the crystal ball just ended the picture due to the Hokage ending chakra connection. All the Jounins stood up straight and looked at the Hokage. Sarutobi himself just grabbed his pipe, put some tobacco into it and lit it. And then started to puff some here and there.

"Well, what do you three think?" He asked.

"I for one have to say sorry to you two." Naruto said gesturing towards Kakashi and Kurenai. He continued on though.

"Kiba looks and acts brash for a shinobi something, I'll have to fix that. Choji is strong from what his profile says but I will have to work on his speed. And finally Shikamaru looks lazy as hell." Naruto said this all with a straight face on.

Kurenai decided to go next. "My students look ok. Ino looks like a fan girl and will have to be put through some very hard lessons to get her to act like a shinobi. Shino I couldn't really tell. But then again all Aburames are like that. Finally Hinata looks like she has some major confidence problems."

Kakashi was still reading his little orange book and not paying attention at all, when Kurenai elbowed him in the ribs quite hard. It surely would have left a bruise if he was not a shinobi. "Ha….." The others in the room just sweat drop at this and stare at him expectantly. He eventually catches on.

"Ah. Yes. You want my opinion right Hokage-sama. Well the Sai kid looks like a normal shinobi to me. The only weird thing about him is he has no last name." He shrugs his shoulders here and continues. "Sakura looks like a fan girl with little to no talent at all. Sasuke looks like he broods all day and might be gay but I can't be sure about that one till I spend some time with my team."

Kurenai looks at him weirdly for a second than asks, "Why do you think he is gay?" The other men in the room just look at her with a dead pan look on there face. It's Naruto that answers.

"How can he not be gay? Come on. He has girls practically throwing themselves at him and all he did was sit there and ignore them. You think he would at least talk to them. There is no way he is not gay." He nodded his head up and down afterwards. So did the others in the room. They all agreed with Naruto on this one.

"Well thank you for your opinions. You are to go and meet your teams in forty minutes. You are all now Jounin instructors. Lead your teams well and teach them well. They are under your wing now. You are all dismissed." The Hokage ended his little speech.

Wind started to rotate around Naruto suddenly. Then it picked up speed and became visible to the human eye. It rotated all around him completely cutting off his form from view. It looked like a tornado except this was shaped like a cylinder instead of an upside down cone. Then it just disappeared and Naruto was gone with it.

The others looked and could only sigh. And leave in there way. Kakashi and Kurenai both just popped out of the office in a cloud of smoke. Leaving Sarutobi to do some more paper work.

'God paper work will be the end of me I swear it!' Sarutobi thought to himself as he grabbed the first one and went to work on the never ending pile of evil incarnate.

Hour later…

The class room was active with talk about this and that. They were talking amongst each other about this and that. Then there were foot steps on the out side of the door. Everyone turned to the door waiting to see who was there. The door slid open and in walked a woman with black hair that was shoulder length and would curl slightly at the end giving it a look of slight wildness. She had red eyes that stood out vastly. Her forehead protector was on her forehead. She had a weird dress sort of thing. It was more like bandages that were black and white but they were a dress sort of thing. It was made to have easy maneuverability. She had on normal shinobi sandals and the dress went down to her mid thighs. And then she had bandages on her hands that went to just before her elbows.

The next person to walk in was a man that was a Cyclops. The reason was because he only had one eye. The other one, the left eye, was covered up by his hitai-ate or forehead protector. He had silver hair that spiked upwards and slightly forwards. He had a mask that covered his face. It went from his neck all the way up to and over his nose. He had on your standard Jounin vest that was green in color and had six pockets for scrolls and such in the front. He had blue ninja pants with bandages wrapping his ankles. He had his kunai and shuriken pouch on his left leg. Each hand had gloves on with a metal back on them. He also had blue ninja sandals.

The last person was rather short for a Jounin. He was about five feet four inches. He had spiky blond hair that was sticking up and all over the place. It was like it couldn't be controlled. It went slightly back down his neck about two inches or so. He had sky blue eyes that looked like they were a bottomless pit. He had on your classic Jounin vest except that his was black instead of green. It also had six pockets for storing scrolls in it. He had blue ninja pants, with a shuriken and kunai pouch on each leg. His sandals were also blue.

"Ah, the Jounin instructors are here. Class quite down so you may here your team being called."

"Team ten; meet me at training ground nineteen in thirty minutes." With that said Naruto disappeared in a burst of flames from the feet up then down again. Then he was gone.

"Damn! That was so awesome. I already like this guy. Let's go Akamaru." With that he got up and headed for the door.

"Tech. Troublesome. Come on Choji, we better get going." With that said Shikamaru and Choji stood up and followed Kiba out the door.

"Well team eight, follow me please." Kurenai walked out the door and Ino, Shino, and Hinata followed."

"Team seven, meet me on the roof." With that Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sai, Sasuke, and Sakura followed shortly afterwards.

About twenty five minutes later at training area nineteen we find Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba walking into the training field. They noticed that in the middle of the field is there new sensei to.

"Good your early, I like that in people. Well lets get started shall we? Each one of you sit down it front of me and tell me a little bit about yourselves."

They each sat down and Kiba asked, "What do you want to know about us sensei?"

"Well for starters you can call me Naruto-sensei, or Naruto-sempai. Either one will work for me. Secondly, I'd like to know your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, things like that."

"Can you go first so we know some more about you?" Kiba asked again.

"Well let's see. My name is Namikaze Naruto. I have many things I like. One is ramen which is my favorite food, hem… I don't feel like telling you my other likes. My dislikes are people who judge you by your name not by who you are. Hobbies are training and learning new things. My dream for the future is to one day surpass my dad in being a shinobi. That's everything about me that you'll get to know for now. Since you asked, you can go first." He said while pointing to the boy with the dog.

"Alright. My name is Inuzuka Kiba. This here is my companion and partner Akamaru. My likes are playing with Akamaru, and learning new techniques. My dislikes are people who treat animals badly. Hobbies are training and teaching Akamaru new tricks and techniques. Dreams for the future are to one day be the head of my clan."

"Good thank you Kiba. Next is you lazy." Naruto pointed to the one lying on the ground watching the clouds.

The one lying down sat up and looked at there sensei. "Piff. This is so troublesome but fine. My name is Nara Shikamaru. My likes are hanging out with my friends, and playing Shoji and go. My dislikes are loud people. Hobbies are watching clouds. Dreams for the future are to one day become an average shinobi, with a wife, two kids. First a girl, then a boy. Then die of old age after I see my grand kids."

"Thank you Shikamaru. That was very interesting. You say you like Shoji and go right?" He gets a node from Shikamaru. "Well I would love to play you in a game. The third Hokage and Asuma-sensei say I'm quite good. I'd like to see how you fair."

"I look forward to that. I haven't had a challenge in quite a while." Shikamaru said with a node of acknowledgement.

"Well you will get that game some time. Now for the last one. You." He said pointing to Choji.

"My name is Akimichi Choji. My likes are eating and spending time with my friends. My dislikes are when people make fun of my weight. My hobbies are spending time with my friends, training, and eating. My dream for the future is to become strong and one day own my own restraint here in Konoha."

'Heeemmmmm. Well I got a lazy bum, a kid with his dog, and a person that likes to eat. I have a lot of work cut out for me.' Naruto thought to himself.

"Well you each have your own unique traits. That is good. You will need them for what I have planned for you. But before we can do that I have to give you a test to see if you can become genin or not."

"Tech… troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled under his breath.

"What do you mean become genin? We already are genin!" Kiba said harshly.

"Do you really want to know or do you just want me to give you your test?" They each looked at him with a look clearly saying they wanted to know.

"Well of all the graduates that came out of the academy, only nine people will pass. If you suck at math, then that would mean that you only have a 33 percent chance of passing. So are you glad you asked now?" This was said with an evil little smirk on his face.

Each one of the three paled. They only had a 33 percent chance of passing. They each had the same thought. 'Damn it. This is so unfair'

"Well lets take that test right now why don't we. I'm supposed to give you till tomorrow to take it but… I really don't want to wait that long. So for the test, all you have to do is take one of these two bells from me. Who ever gets a bell passes. If you don't get a bell you fail and go back to the academy for another year of training."

Naruto had stood up during this time and so did his three students. They each looked ready for any thing.

"Well, lets get this started. You have until six to get them. When this timer goes off you will come back here regardless of whether you got a bell or not."

They each looked at the timer and though at the same time, 'What the hell! Were the hell did he get that timer!'

"You know what to do…… Oh and you better come at me with the intent to kill me because if you don't you will fail miserably. You can start in 3……2…….1…….GO!"

Each of the genin to be jumped off into the trees surrounding the clearing. 'Heemmm. They hide well. Although not well enough. I know were each of them are still. But that is to be expected. Well they each got the art of hiding down well. Now for the other parts of being a ninja' Naruto thought to himself.

With that last though in mind, he walked over to the middle of the clearing and sat down and started to mediate. He sat cross legged with his arms resting on his knees and eyes closed.

'Yes this is my chance. He has let down his guard completely.' Thought Kiba.

With that he prepared six shuriken and threw them at their prone sensei. They soared through the air at impressive speeds, cutting the air while is went. They were just about to hit when there sensei's right hand shot out and caught them all on his fingers like they were nothing. They spun on his fingers for a few seconds before they stopped and then he pocketed them in his pouch. This was all done with him not moving a muscle except his arm and his eyes stayed closed to.

With his first attempt at winning the fight gone he charged out of the bushes head first. He raised a fist to hit him in the head and swung when it was caught in Naruto's own hand. He tried to kick him next but Naruto simply leaned his head to the side and then jerked on Kiba's arm that he still held and then pushed him back with enough force to make him slide back ten feet.

When Kiba regained his footing he looked up and saw that his sensei was standing before him looking at him.

"First lesson, Taijutsu. The art of hand to hand combat. Come." And so the fight was back on. Kiba again charged in head first only to be delivered a harsh punch to the stomach for his efforts. He bent over and landed on his knees trying to regain his breath.

Naruto walked away about ten feet then turned to look at him again and said, "First things first. Never attack a person head on with out a plan first. You will only end up like you have right now."

Kiba snarled and called Akamaru over and tossed him a food pill and then ate one himself. He crouched low to the ground so he was on his hands and feet and then his nails lengthened.

"Shikyaku no Jutsu." (Four Legs Technique) Kiba snarled.

"Get on Akamaru." The dog did just that and jumped onto Kibas back.

"Jujin Bunshin." (Beast Human Clone) Akamaru on his back burst into smoke only to come out looking exactly like Kiba did.

When the preparation was all done, Kiba yelled out, "Let's go Akamaru!"

With that both Kibas rushed forwards at least twice the speed they did before hand. They both took a swipe at there sensei and both were dodged. They both went passed him and turned around and tried again only to be dodged again and again. This continued until the Kibas got irritated and they stepped it up a notch.

"Gatsuga!" (Double Piercing Fang) Both Kibas started to spin super fast and then looked like two tornados of death coming at Naruto. But yet again they were all dodged and then Naruto himself started to do some hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground after creating some distance from the attacking duo.

"Doton: Yomi Numa no jutsu!" (Earth release swamp of the underworld) The earth turned into a swamp all around the area in front of Naruto. Both Kibas were in the air when the jutsu was done and were now coming down into the swamp. They didn't have time for a Kawarimi so they headed straight into the swamp head first. With in seconds they hit the swamp and even faster, they were swallowed whole by the technique and disappeared underground.

With both Kibas disappearing under ground Naruto ended the chakra supply and the ground hardened. Naruto did four more hand seals that were too quick to follow for either Shikamaru or Choji that were still hiding and watching and then the earth swallowed him up whole. Not three seconds later one Kibas heads popped out of the ground and one dogs head popped out of the ground. Next Naruto jumped out of the ground in front of Kiba.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu." (Earth release: inner decapitation technique)

"So Kiba did you learn your lesson. You can't beat me in taijutsu or ninjutsu. You have no chance of it. But good try none the less. You almost got a bell there at one time or another." With that he started to walk away.

"Hey! Were you going! You can't just leave me here in the ground like this! Hey I'm talking to you!" Kiba yelled.

Naruto stopped walking and tilted his head back so he could see him out of the corner of his eye. "Actually, yes. I am going to leave you there. Have fun trying to get out." With that Naruto leapt into the trees and out of sight.

Shikamaru and Choji came out of hiding a little while later and walked up to the still struggling Kiba and Akamaru.

"Hey need some help there Kiba, Akamaru?" Choji asked well heartedly.

"Tish. This is so troublesome but I've figured out the real meaning of this exam."

Choji who just un-dug Akamaru and started on Kiba, looked back at his best friend. Kiba did the same thing.

"Shikamaru, what do you mean by that." Choji asked him clearly confused.

"Ya man. What the hell. Aren't we just supposed to get the bells?" Kiba asked bewildered to.

Shikamaru just sighed and started to help dig out Kiba with Choji while he explained. "No, the real purpose isn't to get the bells. Even if we did get the bells individually we would still fail. Although I highly doubt that we could get the bells by ourselves. We would have to work as a team to even have a chance to get a bell. He left clues on what the true meaning of the test was. Firstly, there are only two bells, so no matter what; one of us will still fail. Then theirs the fact that we were put on a three man cell. Then why right off the bat try and separate us. All genin cells are made up of four members; a Jounin and three genin. So I figured he purposely tried to separate us to make us fight each other and put us against each other so we would have to go back to the academy. With all of these facts it only leads to one truth. And that is that we must work as a team. That is the true meaning of the test. Not the bells, but for us to work as a team."

By the time Shikamaru was done talking they had managed to get Kiba and Akamaru out of the ground. They each were standing now cleaning themselves some what of the dirt that covered them.

"Well, if we have to work as a team to pass, then I'm all for it. Right Akamaru." Kiba said while getting a bark as a reply form Akamaru.

"I'm with Kiba, Shikamaru. Let's work as a team." Choji piped in.

"Alright here is what we'll do." Shikamaru pitched in and they all huddled together to form a plan to hopefully stop there sensei and try and get the bells.

An hour later we find Naruto leaning against a tree thinking. 'Well what do we have here? Are they working together? I wonder how they figured it out so quickly. Must have been Shikamaru. He did say that he played Shoji and go. Well doesn't matter. I want to see what they got in them.'

Out of no were shrunken and kunai come out of the trees heading straight towards the still prone Naruto. Naruto jumps to the side just as they were about to impale him.

"Baika no Jutsu." (Muti-size technique) He hears then he sees Choji in the trees blow up into a big ball using his own body and then each off his limbs goes into his ball like body. Then he hears… "Nikudan Sensha no jutsu" (human bullet tank) Then Choji starts to spin and roll towards him.

'So he does know a few family jutsu. Well this makes it more interesting' Naruto thought as he dodged the first few strikes by rolling or jumping out of the way. Then after a few more times he jumps straight up into the air.

'NOW!' Kiba thought.

"Tsuga!" (Piercing fang) Again Kiba starts to spin like a tornado and came out of his hiding spot to attack there sensei together.

Naruto saw Kiba out of the corner of his eye and could only think one thing. 'Shit. This is going to get hard'

'Naruto' got hit with the Tsuga attack and suddenly puffed into a log that was completely torn to shreds. Naruto jumped out of the trees and looked at his students and when they found him they charged him again with there respective attacks each. Naruto was dodging left and right and was slowly starting to worry.

'Damn it. I can't stop them without hurting them too severely and if I do the old man will kill me! Add to that that I'm being pushed backwards into the trees and I'll surely be hit in no time.' Naruto was getting frantic. He looked for any way out but could only find one and that was the trees. He knew if he went in there he would have limited maneuverability but hopefully so would Kiba and Choji. At least he hoped so.

Finally Kiba and Choji backed him up to a tree and they both grinned, although no one could see it.

Both thought the same thing. 'The plan is working perfectly. Now we just have to hope that Shikamaru does his part'

And Shikamaru did do his part. The second Naruto got with in twenty feet of the forest, there was a shadow racing towards him. He noticed it and jumped upwards to avoid it but that only led him to being able to barely manage to dodge Kibas Tsuga. When he started to fall again he saw Choji waiting for him.

He landed on the ground and had to jump out of the way of the living human tank called Choji the second he touched ground. He jumped backwards and landed only to find he couldn't move. He looked down by moving his eyes downwards because his body and neck of his wouldn't respond. What he saw was the shadow from earlier attached to him.

"Kagemane no Jutsu success." (Shadow Imitation technique) He heard. He looked forward and saw Shikamaru standing there with his own shadow extended to his. Then both Kiba and Choji came out of there attacks and charged forward to get the bell. They got them easily because Naruto couldn't move.

They all stood by each other and smiled at there sensei proudly. They slapped hands together and said good job to each other. They looked at there sensei and they saw him smiling to.

"Well you guys did well but not good enough I'm afraid. You still failed to get the bells." Each one of the three looked at him like he had grown an extra head or something.

"What are you talking about? We got the bells right here. Look." Kiba said holding up a stick.

"WHAT! Where the hell is the bell? I just had it!" He practically yelled. No wait, he did yell.

They each looked at their sensei that still couldn't move because of the Kagemane no jutsu holding him still.

"Well it's been fun." With that he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell was that? I thought you said that people couldn't use teleportation techniques when they were under that jutsu Shikamaru?" Choji asked his friend.

Shikamaru replied just as confused as he was. "They can't. I don't know what the hell he did. But it wasn't a teleportation technique that he just used. It was something else."

They would have talked more but they heard a bell ring in the distance. They each looked at ach other and jogged of to the clearing were they all started from.

When they made it to the clearing they saw there sensei leaning against another tree. They approached him and he opened his eyes to look at each of them individually.

'Well in all accords they have passed my test. But why not screw with them a little.' He thought as he was laughing on the inside like a maniac.

"Well you each did well. You each managed to do something in this little test. Some more than others but then again that doesn't really matter. You all failed in the end to get your objective and that was these two bells that are on my hip. So for failing you will all go back to the academy for another year of training?" After this was said, Naruto didn't have to wait long before one of them snapped and attacked him.

It just so happened to be Kiba.

"You asshole! We tried or best and this is what we get!" With that shout, he charged Naruto. Before any of them new what happened. Kiba was on the ground on his belly and Naruto was sitting on him restraining him with one hand.

"You all know nothing about what it means to be shinobi!" His voice was harsh and stern. Each one of the wana-be genin flinched at his tone.

"In the shinobi world, people die everyday. This is not a game. Any one of us can die at any moment, at any time, during any mission. I will not have a bunch of kids going on missions that think this is all a game. For example."

Here he pulled out a kunai and put it against Kibas throat. "Choji, kill Shikamaru or I'll kill Kiba!"

Choji panicked and looked between everyone present with a look of fear.

"That is what can happen on a mission. A person gets captured and then you have to make an impossible decision that either way you are screwed." Naruto got up and put his kunai away.

"This is the real life of a shinobi. You have to make hard decisions every day. I will not have a bunch of brats on my team. You three did figure out the true meaning of this test. And that was team work. I'll give you credit for that. But you still need to grow up. I'll give you guys one more chance at beating me. But for Kibas little attack on me just now, I really don't feel that generous to all of you. So I'm going to tie up Kiba, while you two can eat these snacks that I brought to gain some energy back. If either of you feed him you will automatically be disqualified and be sent back to the academy. After your done untie him and come and try to get the bells again if you want to pass. You have two more hours"

With that he tied up Kiba and started to walk away. But before he left he turned slightly back towards them.

"I make the rules. You follow them. If you don't, you will find yourself in a world of pain!" With that he leapt of into the trees leaving three genin to be, to shiver in slight fear at his words.

Both Choji and Shikamaru ate there respective snacks in quite. Both thinking about what they just heard. Akamaru was sitting at his master's feet, winning slightly. Kiba was pouting about his loss and the reprimand he got from Naruto, when his stomach grumbled indicating that he was hungry.

Shikamaru and Choji looked at him and then Shikamaru handed him some of his food. Kiba couldn't take it because he was tied up but he looked at him questionably.

"Why are you giving me your food? If you do you'll be punished." He said in bewilderment.

"Tish… It's troublesome but if we're going to stand any chance at getting those bells from Naruto-sensei then we all have to be at our best." Shikamaru responded with a shrug of the shoulders.

"He's right Kiba. Besides. What kind of teammates would we be if we didn't look out for one another?" Choji added in his two cents in.

"Thanks guys. This means a lot but I can't move." Akamaru barked in agreement with him.

"I'll feed you some don't worry Kiba." Choji said while he gave him some of his sandwich.

Then out of no were the sky turned blackish and then there was lightning in red color. There sensei appeared before them with a look that promised death to any one that apposes him.

"I told you not to feed him! Are you ready for the consequences?" He stated as he went through some hand seals that were too quick for them to see.

Choji managed to get up and get into a position, so that he was guarding his tied up team mate and so did Shikamaru. Choji some how managed to stammer out a reply also.

"You said th... that we should work as a. a…a… team."

"Ya. That's right! You can't punish them for working as a team!" Kiba put in. Akamaru barked as well agree with them, being in front of his master.

"Oh….. And what about you!" Naruto said while looking at Shikamaru.

"If Kiba doesn't get food then he won't be at his best and will suffer. And if he suffers then that means the team suffers. So ya I'm with them also." He said.

"Oh…. So your disobeying my rules are you. Well then I guess I have only one thing to say then….."

Each one of the genin to be were preparing for anything.

"You…..Pass!" He said as the sky cleared up back to normal and he put on a smile.

"What we pass?...... that's it?" Choji asked confused.

Naruto just kept smiling at them and then stood up and flicked a kunai at Kiba that cut the ropes that were holding him to the tree. "Yep! That's it. You all passed my test. You actually surprised me though. I didn't think you would be able to figure out the real purpose of the test. But you did. From this day forward you are all genin of the leaf and will be a proud part of team ten."

They each celebrated in there own way.

"All right Akamaru we did it!" Kiba said and Akamaru barked in reply.

Choji took out a bag of chips and started to eat them. And Shikamaru mumbled troublesome under his breath. But he was grinning like his friend Choji and Kiba.

"Remember though. You may be genin now. But it only gets harder from here on out. Remember this well. It is a line from one of my friends. 'Those who break the rules are considered trash. But those who abandon there friends are even worse then trash'"

They each nodded in understanding, committing that line to memory.

"Well good job team ten. I am your official sensei from now on. We will start training and doing missions in two days time. Tomorrow you have off to do what ever you want to do. Because in two days time your torture….a I mean training begins. Meet at the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant at six am sharp. See you then!"

With that Naruto disappeared by the ground lifting up and covering his body with a small amount of earth covering him every were. It was no thicker than an inch in any area though. When he was completely covered it crumbled around him from head to feet. When it was done it didn't even look like the ground was disturbed.

A day later…

We find two people waiting in an office and occasional small talk here and there. They were conversing about nothing of any importance. Just some chit chat between friends.

Then right next to the female of the two a small amount of wind picks up and forms a tornado. Though this tornado was only about six feet tall. It started off on the floor and went upward. After it was formed it disappeared the same way, but this time starting off at the head, then down ward to his feet. In its wake stood Namikaze Naruto. What was really surprising though was that the miniature tornado created very little wind. Just a small breeze.

"Well hello to you to Naruto. How have you been these days?" The man of the two asked.

"I have been doing fine Kakashi. And you two?" Naruto asked.

"Just fine. Though I was rather surprised about my team though." The man now identified as Hatake Kakashi said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oh and how is that Kakashi?" The female of the two asked.

Before he could answer though the door was opened up and in stepped the Hokage. Each of the three occupants of the room straightened slightly and stood at attention for there leader. The old man walked over to his chair and took his seat. He looked at the occupants and nodded at them.

"Well I'm glad that you three could make it here today. I would like to hear about your teams. Have they passed and then if they did, could you give some info on each of their skills please. That would be much appreciated." The old man asked the three.

First to speak was the only female in the room. "I Yuhi Kurenai, captain of team eight am happy to say that my team passed my test. The team consists of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino. At first they didn't grasp the true meaning of the test but they quickly caught on to it." Here she paused to let the information sink in, and then continued on. "Hinata is well versed into the Juken style of fighting. Not surprising there. She has no other talents as of now. Her confidence is also lacking though. Shino is silent as any other Aburame is. But his skills in his family style are very good. Ino is loud and brash. She has talent in her family techniques though. Overall they are a well versed team. With my help they will become accomplished shinobi in time."

The others nodded at her as if expecting that answer.

"Kakashi, can you go next?" Sarutobi asked with a node in his direction.

"Hai, as you wish Hokage-sama. I am captain of team seven consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Sai. My team has…..passed." This shocked Sarutobi and Kurenai. They both knew of his reputation of never passing a team. EVER.

"So you finally passed a team have ya Kakashi. It wasn't just because of the Uchiha I hope, was it?" Naruto asked looking directly at him.

"No Naruto. I'd never do that. Actually I'm surprised that they passed at all. Even if they did just by a margin. I almost failed them but at the last second they managed to work as a team. Although a very bad team, still a team. Any way like I was saying, Sai has some very interesting skills. He can create ink creatures of sorts. Any thing he draws on paper it seems he can make it come off the paper and grow to normal size. He uses these creatures to aid him in battle. They are made completely out of ink and are under his control when he uses them. Sakura is another story all together. She has very little talent right now. As far as I can tell so far, all she can do is the basic academy jutsu and that is it. She is a fan girl with little to no effort put into being a shinobi. If she doesn't act like a real kunoich should then I will have no choice but to take her off the team. As for Sasuke he is very talented for his age. He has enough chakra to do a Gokakyu no jutsu (fire ball) and his taijutsu is good. Bad thing is; he is completely obsessed on getting revenge and kill Itachi. Over all my team needs a lot of work." Kakashi finished with a shrug.

"Well Kakashi, it looks like you got your work cut out for you. I want you to keep an extra eye on Sasuke. If he tries to do anything funny you will report it, got it. Just because he is the last Uchiha in Konoha doesn't mean he will get special treatment." Sarutobi asked in a very serious tone.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied in an equally serious tone.

"Very well. Naruto what about you team. Did you pass or fail them?" The old man asked looking right into his eyes.

"I am captain of team ten and my team consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. They did extraordinary well in my opinion. They managed to pass and figure out the true meaning of the test with in twenty minutes of the trial. I have a feeling it would have been sooner if Choji and Shikamaru could have gotten to Kiba before he attacked me. But that is beside the point. Kiba is brash and acts before he thinks. But he also has a very good understanding of his family techniques to. His taijutsu is animal like and ferial to say the least. Shikamaru is probably the smartest person of his class. His record is totally inaccurate. He came up with a brilliant strategy to take me down. He also has a good grasp of his family techniques also. Bad thing is, when he or his companions are not in danger he is a lazy bum. Choji has a good grasp on his family techniques as well. He used two of his techniques on me. He is also very strong for his age. But like most Akimichi, he is slow. Over all I will have to put them through hell to come to my standers. But that should be fun or me and torture for them." Naruto finished his description of his team with a very evil smirk that promised cruel things.

"Well Naruto remember that they may be shinobi and all but they are no where near the level they were when you were twelve. You can't put them through the same thing you did." The old man responded after hearing those last two sentences and seeing the evil smirk. 'After all, there parents will kill me if they come home nearly dead from over training. Not to mention Narutos health will be in danger.' He thought.

"Hai, hai, Hokage-sama. I promise not to over exert them to much." Was his half livid reply.

"Just try not to make them come home every day completely exhausted like you did. Their parents would kill you and me for that." Sarutobi asked pleadingly. That got each of them laughing. To see the Hokage begging for something was not often.

"I'll do my best Hokage-sama." Naruto replied after his laughter fit was over.

"That is all I can ask for now." He paused for a minute thinking how he wanted to say this. "Well you each now have a team. You are to command and lead them through at least their genin years. Teach them every thing that you see fit and always be a good example. You are Jounin of the leaf village; make me and this village proud by making some of the strongest genin we have seen in years turn up. I look forward to seeing there skills in the future. You are all dismissed." The old man said with a passion in his voice that the others did not miss.

Kakashi, Kurenai, and Naruto replied with a, "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

Then each one in the room turned to see how Naruto would leave. Naruto noticed this and sweat dropped. "What?" He asked looking at them sheepishly. They just kept staring at him intently.

"What's wrong? I got something on me?" Naruto asked as he looked at his clothes all over. Now it was there turn to sweat drop.

"Naruto, there's nothing on you, weren't you going to leave just now?" Sarutobi asked with playfulness in his voice.

"Ah hu. Well I guess I'll see ya then." Everyone else in the room stared intently on him ready to see something great, when he just turned around and headed for the door.

"Wait! Aren't you going to leave with a shunshin or something Naruto?" Kurenai asked in a panic at first but then caught herself and finished passive.

Naruto turned around and looked at them each, to see they really wanted to see one. "You guys really expect me to use one of my shunshins all the time don't you?" Naruto asked matter of factly. He just got nodes from each of them.

"Sigh… as my student Shikamaru said, troublesome." With that he shunshined out of the room with leafs twirling around him like the classic Konoha shunshin but not. Why, because after the leafs got a foot off the ground, the leafs started on fire. The burning leafs swirled around him and eventually above his head. Then Naruto was gone from sight. The leafs that were still burning came down were Naruto use to be and completely caught on fire and disappeared before they could reach a foot above the ground. There was even no ash left from the leafs.

"Well I do say that equals seven new shunshins now." Sarutobi piped in.

"Damn. He should really teach some of those to others. Or better yet, sell a scroll on how to do them. He would make a fortune. Everyone would buy it in Konoha." Kurenai piped in also.

"Sigh. One of us should ask him some time. I don't think any one ever has. Ja ne." (See ya) Kakashi piped in his own part and puffed out of the room with a cloud of smoke. Kurenai did the same thing. Leaving the only one in the room to be the old man. He looked down on his desk and noticed that he had no paper work to do. He beamed.

"Finally! So paper work! Time for some good old reading." He looked around to make sure no one was around and after confirming that there were none. He opened up a drawer on his desk and pulled out an orange book. He opened it up and started reading it as he relaxed. Every few seconds you could hear a perverted giggle come from him. He was snapped out of his reading when he heard a knock on his door and some one asking for permission to enter. After putting his book back into it's hiding place he told the person to enter.

His face immediately fell when he saw what the person was holding. It was a stack of papers at least a foot high. After the person put the papers down he noticed the Hokages gloomy expression.

"Is there something wrong, Hokage-sama?" He asked in a concerned voice.

Sarutobi didn't even look at him. "No there is nothing wrong. You may go now."

"As you wish Hokage-sama." He replied as he bowed and left the office through the doorway.

Sarutobi could only stare at the papers in pure and utter hatred. "I hate you! You know that!" He talked to the papers in front of him with the utmost hatred. Never the less, he grabbed the first one and started to do the thing he hated the most in life.

Author Notes:

Well that's the chapter. I hoped you liked it. I tried to make Naruto strong but not to strong either. I also tried to add a little comedy in but I suck at that part. Another thing I want to say is about the whole shunshin thing. Some people think it is part of his bloodline. Well I'm telling you now that it is not. He is just that smart.

Now to finish my rant. (DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOLIERS FOR THE SHOW AND MANGA!) The Naruto manga really pisses me off tons. Why you may ask. Well, you have Sasuke for the main reason. He is just too powerful. He defeated an army of men with out getting a scratch and then he took on Orochimaru and beat him. WTF! He is like what sixteen or something. I hate him a lot! Then there are the facts about Naruto. He is still weak. He is starting to use his brain for things but physically he is still slow and weak. He created the ultimate jutsu. A wind based Rasengan and it is probably thee most powerful jutsu in the world. But yet again in the manga they screw him over. They make it so it damages him to an extent were he can't use it ever! That is so fucked up. When will they give him a break and make him strong. Sasuke is at Sannin to Kage level. Naruto is at mid Jounin if that. WTF! What the hell did Jiraiya teach him over two and half years? How to cook! God damn it. It just pisses me of so much!

(CAN CONTINUE TO READ NOW!)

Well I'm done with my rant**.** Oh, as always I will answer questions in replies. So ya. Ja ne! (See ya)

Battousai222


	5. Past and Future Training Revealed

Sorry for the late update…I don't have much to say really. The only reason it took so long to write is because I had two essays and a book report to write. After that I really didn't feel like reading or writing so I took 4 days off. Then looked at my email and found twenty-five updates for stories that I'm reading. So yep took me a while to get this thing done.

Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Past and Future Training Revealed

"Oy, Shikamaru how long have you been here?"

"Not very long, probably around five minutes or so." Shikamaru said while patting the spot beside were he was lying against a tree.

Choji not one to take the chance to relax, went down and sat beside his friend. "So how long till sensei gets here?" He asked with curiosity.

"Hmmm, well I'd say about ten minutes, give or take a few." Was his reply.

"Oh." After their very short conversation, they just sat in silence until a brown haired boy walked up to them very slowly with a dog on his head.

"Hey guys." Was all he said before he sat, leaning against the tree beside the one Choji and Shikamaru were leaning against.

"Hey." Was there equally short reply, and so yet again they waited.

Ten minutes later, there was a poof of smoke directly in front of them. They each looked up and saw their sensei standing there.

"Hey guys; how you doing?" He asked with a foxy grin that only he could pull off.

It was Kiba that replied. "How do you think we're doing?! It's seven in the morning! Add to that you have been running us into the ground for the last two weeks doesn't help any!"

"Ah come on Kiba, seven is late; and it hasn't been that bad has it?" He asked sheepishly.

"Are you kidding me?! You gave us these weights and then expect us to run around in them every day for freaking two hours! You're a sadist you fucking bustard!" Kiba just shouted at Naruto.

Naruto had the decency to look guilty and then scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, while giving off a low chuckle.

"How troublesome, it's only seven in the morning and your already loud Kiba." Shikamaru replied while rubbing his head.

"Shut up Shikamaru! All this training is really getting to me. All we do is run, do push up's, and other stupid exercises." Kiba shot back.

"Come on guys, let's not argue already; we just started today." Choji tried to step in between them and stop the arguing. Sadly it was for not, as they continued to complain and argue with each other, one sounding logical while the other was just ranting.

"Ok guys, that's enough. If you want to get in a couple of missions and then train some more then we better get started." Naruto had to raise his voice over the others to get heard. What he got though was not what he expected; instead of silencing the three boys he received three groans of complaint.

"Well if that is the way you see it, then we can always add more weight to you guys." Naruto said with an evil grin.

The reply was instinctive and fast. "NO!" They each shouted out at the same time.

"What we mean, is the weight we have is just fine. Let's just get on with the stupid missions." Shikamaru said while standing and starting to walk to the Hokage's tower to get their mission. The others followed behind him.

Once at the tower, they waited to be allowed into Sarutobi's office. Finally after five minutes of waiting the secretary said they could enter.

"Team ten reporting for a mission Hokage-sama." Naruto said once they were standing in front of him.

"Ah team ten; it's good to see you so early. Well let me see; we have twenty-two D rank missions today. You can pick up the groceries for Mrs. Natsumi, you can baby sit some kids, you can clean the river bank, you can catch the Daimyos wife's cat…"

"NO!" Everyone looked up at who just shouted and found it was Kiba. "I won't catch that stupid cat ever again! I hate cats!" Here Akamaru barked in agreement. "Give us a real mission, not these stupid missions; an academy student could do them. We're genin for crying out loud, give us a real mission!"

Iruka who happened to be helping with handing out mission reports stood up. "How dare you! You are mere genin; you can't possibly be ready for higher rank missions. Besides these are meant to build team work, you guys are much…"

At this point Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto each stopped listening and were having their own conversation.

"Hey Naruto-sensei, have you heard that Ichiraku Ramen has a new food on its menu." Choji asked.

"Really? What is it?" Naruto wanted to know, badly.

"Well you know how I've wanted them to make me barbeque almost every time we go there? Well they finally have put it on the menu."

"Sweet, later today we can all go out if you guys want, my treat." Naruto stated.

"Sure, I'm in."

"Me to."

"Same."

"Hey! Are you guys even listening to me?!" Iruka yelled at them.

"Ah my bad Iruka-san. It's just that your lessons are so boring. You know, you really need to make them more interesting." Naruto replied like it was common knowledge. Iruka though looked like he took it the wrong way. He had a vain bulging on his forehead to prove it. He was just about to yell at them some more, when the Hokage coughed into his hand.

Everyone quieted down when they heard the Hokages cough. "Now that I have all of your attention, I would like to ask you, Naruto, if you think your team is ready for a higher ranked mission."

"Well…I don't know; how many missions has my team done so far?" Naruto asked.

"Let me see, well according to this, team ten has completed eleven D-rank mission in two weeks time." The Hokage informed.

"Well, if they have done that many then I don't see why they couldn't take a low level C-rank mission. So yeah, I think they are ready."

"Very well, there is a group of bandits in the town next to us that has been causing the locals some trouble. It is your mission to go there and protect the town and take down the bandits, do you accept the mission?" Sarutobi asked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." With that Sarutobi tossed the scroll to Naruto, who spun around to speak with his team.

"You are to go and prepare for a three day mission. You have two hours to get ready and be at the south gate on time. If you aren't there on time, I will double your training regiment." They each gulped at that, and Naruto got a smirk on his face. "You are dismissed."

Three hours later, on the road south of the hidden leaf village, we find four people walking down the road, though only three of them have backpacks.

"Hey sensei, why didn't you pack any supplies?" Choji asked while munching on some chips. The other two were wondering the same thing.

"I did bring supplies with me Choji; they're just inside a scroll." He reached up and pulled out one of his scrolls in his Jounin vest and then opens up the first part of it. He put his hand over a kanji for food and then there was a poof of smoke. As soon as the smoke cleared, there was their sensei, snacking on a bag of chips.

"Here ya go Choji, enjoy." Naruto said while tossing him the bag of chips.

"So you know how to do sealing jutsu sensei?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hai, I learned them in my library at home. I'm by no means an expert, but I'd say probably low to mid range level. I plan on becoming a master some day like my father was." He replied while looking ahead of them.

"What else to you got in that library of yours? Any jutsu?" Kiba asked hoping for a yes.

"Hai, it has jutsu, many other things too."

"How many jutsu does it have?" Kiba asked again.

"You know, I really don't know. I've learned about 350 ninjutsu and genjutsu out of there and I still have a long way to go." After a few seconds, he noticed that he was the only one still walking and looked back at his students.

"Your library is THAT big!" Kiba asked in astonishment, while Choji and Shikamaru could only nod their heads agreeing with him.

Naruto just grinned at them and nodded, then continued on his way. His students soon caught up with him after they got out of there stupor and they walked in silence again for some time, until they stopped to take a break.

"Ne, Naruto-sensei, are all of those shunshins you do part of your bloodline? I heard from my mom that they were. I just wanted to know?" Choji asked.

"No they aren't, I created those shunshins by myself and any one can use them if they know how." Naruto replied.

This time it was Shikamaru that decided to ask a question. "If those aren't your bloodline, then what is it and what does it do?"

Naruto seemed to think about this for a minute, before deciding to tell them. "Well, my blood limit allows me to move at inhuman speeds and using two techniques that my dad created, it allows me to move a lot faster. The first just accelerates my movement, but the second one allows me to move at near light speed."

Each of the genin had their mouths on the floor at that moment. They also had the same thought. 'Light speed! How is that possible?'

Seeing the reactions he got, Naruto decided to elaborate a little. "I can see that you don't believe me, well I won't tell you how it works because that is a family secret, but I'm sure you have heard about my dad, the Fourth and what his nickname was during the third great shinobi war right?"

"Hai, it was the Kiroi Senko, or yellow flash." Shikamaru answered.

"That's right Shikamaru. His nick name was the yellow flash; he got this because of our bloodline. He moved so fast that all you could see was a flash of yellow and he was gone."

"Damn!" Kiba said in awe of the fourth Hokage.

"I agree with Kiba on his one, but you still haven't told us why you haven't used your bloodline limit yet. Usually they manifest themselves in a dire situation or when you're pushed to your limits." Shikamaru asked again trying to get the second half of the answer.

"Well you are correct on the most part Shikamaru, most blood limits do activate in those kinds of situations, but mine is different. For me to use my blood line limit, my body has to be some what matured or about half way through puberty. Once that happens, it will start to manifest itself and then I can use it. But as you can see, my body still has a lot of growing to do, just like yours does." Naruto said while waving his hands over his body.

"I guess that makes sense."

"What do you mean Shikamaru?" Choji asked.

"Yeah man, what's up?" Kiba put in, while Akamaru barked also. Naruto just looked at him then continued looking ahead.

"From what I can make out, the reason Naruto-sensei's blood limit will only activate after the body is some what matured is because if the body is not matured, then it would not be able to handle the stress and might kill him. Am I right sensei?" They each looked back forward towards Naruto.

Naruto himself just sighed and looked back at them over his shoulder. "You know Shikamaru; you are just too smart for your own good sometimes."

The three just laughed at him and continued on in relative silence from then on, only asking questions here and there or talking about random things.

After a while, they made it to the town they were supposed to protect and found some one to point them in the right direction towards the town leader. After making their way through town and stepping into the appropriate building, they then entered the office.

"Ah, so you are the Konoha ninja that were sent to protect the town, you all look rather young. Do you think you can beat the bandits?" Asked a man in his late 40's.

"You bet we can, you can count on us, right Akamaru?" Kiba spoke confidently and got a reply confirmation from Akamaru.

The man didn't look like he believed them so Naruto stepped in front of his students.

"Don't worry sir, if they can't do it then I will. I am a Jounin from our village, I may be young, but I have earned this title. By the way, my name is Namikaze Naruto; this is Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba, and Akimichi Choji. We will do everything in our power to stop this bandit problem for you." Naruto had a voice filled with confidence but also authority.

When he heard the name Namikaze Naruto, he knew he was in good hands. "So you're Namikaze Naruto?" He got a nod as an answer.

"Well, I have no doubts about you guys then. You are famous around fire country after all Naruto-sama. I'm glad we could get such good protection. Oh how rude of me! My name is Kenzo by the way." The old man said thankfully to them.

"It is of no trouble Kenzo-san and please just Naruto-san will do. My team here are genin, and are no slouches ether. They should be able to handle a couple of bandits no problem."

"My apologies, I'm sure they can handle themselves, would you like some tea?" Kenzo responded.

"No thank you Kenzo-san, we must go and prepare for the bandits before they come." Naruto shook his head in the negative to get his point across.

"I see, well then don't let me keep you from doing your job."

"Team lets go." Naruto commanded as he walked out the door and to the edge of town.

Once there, he stopped and turned to his team. "The bandits are said to come here once every week, that means tomorrow they will be here, and we will be ready for them when they arrive. The report says that they number around twenty three or so. They will most likely have weapons of all sorts and they won't be organized, so here is what we will do…"

The next day around noon, Shikamaru was looking out into the woods with his team right beside him. The reports stated that the bandits had come into and then left town the same way the last three times, so they waited for them to show themselves. Luckily for the ninja, they did show up and in the exact place the report stated. Each member of the team was hidden in the shadows or behind something, so as not to be seen. Once the bandits were out of the trees enough to make sure they couldn't escape, they each jumped out of their hiding spots and landed in front of the. The bandit's stopped and one stepped forward.

"Get out of our way brats, we have a town to go to and wreak havoc on." The bandits behind him agreed with him, and there were some shouts for them to move it from the peanut gallery.

"I'm afraid we can't do that." Naruto stated with venom in his voice.

"Oh? And you four think you can stop us do you?" The same man in the front asked.

"You guys are nothing for Konoha ninja." Kiba boasted.

"Oh, so some little ninja punks think they can stop twenty eight men? We'll see about that!" With that declaration, the bandits charged at the group of four.

"Let's go Akamaru! Shikyaku no Jutsu. (Four legs technique) Jujin Bunshin. (Beast human clone)" Kiba bent over on all fours and then grew claws, while Akamaru jumped on his back and transformed into an exact copy of Kiba. They took off into the mass of bandits.

"Damn it Kiba! You forgot the plan! Let's go guys." Naruto ordered Shikamaru and Choji into the battle. They each charged head on into the fray, with only their kunai drawn.

Within ten minutes the fight was over, all of the bandits were down for the count and wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

"Everyone ok?" Naruto asked as he looked at each of them. Shikamaru had a few cuts and scrapes on his body, Choji was the same. Kiba was also battered, but worse then the other two were. He had some pretty good cuts on him, but Akamaru was fine. Naruto looked like he didn't even fight any one.

"I'm good besides some minor scrapes." Shikamaru reported. Choji replied the same.

"I got some cuts, but besides that, I'm good." Kiba replied.

Naruto nodded as if expecting those replies. "Good job team, you each did well. The only thing I have to say is don't rush into things like that again Kiba. You never know what the enemy has in plan for you. We will need to work on that fighting style of yours; you took too many hits that you shouldn't have."

"I wouldn't have gotten these if I didn't have these stupid weights on." Kiba grumbled.

Naruto sighed. "Kiba, I've explained this before, those weights are meant to improve your speed and strength, plus, I wear weights too. You guys only have on twenty pounds, five on each leg and arm and anyway, you have gotten mostly used to them by now, so they shouldn't have slowed you down to much."

Kiba continued to argue though. "They still slowed me down enough were I couldn't move normally, that's why I couldn't dodge some of those swipes."

Naruto sighed again. "Why don't you get this Kiba? If you take them off every time you do something stressful, you won't gain any thing from having them on. Think of this as training if you want."

"Still doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I don't care if you like it or not, you will wear those weights until I say so, so get used to them! And since you guys have gotten use to them already, I will be adding more weight to them before we head back to Konoha." Naruto said with that evil smirk of his.

He received a group groan from them.

Naruto laughed at their reaction. "Come on guys, let's tie them up and head back and get our pay. Then we can return home."

"Hai, Naruto-sensei" they chorused, not wanting to argue and add more weight to their bodies.

Once they collected their money and stayed the night at one of the hotels in the town, they headed back towards Konoha, but not before Naruto added ten pounds to each of his students. Two and a half pounds to each limb, to make a total of seven and a half pounds per limb and making a grand total of thirty pounds.

"Lets head back guys." Naruto said as he started to walk back to Konoha. They had moved a grand total of a mile before one of them complained, and of course it just happened to be Kiba.

"You're a sadistic bastard, you know that right?" He said with hatred in his voice.

"Oh come on guys, it's not that bad. I added five pounds to each of my limbs." Naruto said while scratching the back of his neck.

"Sorry sensei, but I'm going to have to agree with Kiba on this one, this is torture, we shouldn't have to do this." Shikamaru actually agreed with the brash Kiba.

"I agree with both of them sensei, this is just too much." Choji piped in.

Naruto had to suppress another sigh. 'Damn it, this is another form of training! How can I get this through their heads? Think! Come on there has to be some thing they are training to get at. That's it!' Naruto thought to himself.

'Well here goes nothing.' He thought. "Well guys, if you really want to take them off you can." They each gave a sigh of relief before reaching for their weights only to be stopped by there sensei again. "But…" Seeing them pause he continued, "Consider this. If you keep them on right now, it is true that you will be sorer when we get back, but it will also mean that you will get used to them sooner and that you will be training while doing a mission. By doing this you get an advantage over the rest of your class. Also if you do manage to keep them on all the way back home, and then I will pay for all you can eat at the restaurant of your choosing." They each seemed to think about it intently.

Shikamaru thought, 'Damn him and the way he twist his words. This is so troublesome but it will make me stronger and it means less training when we get back home and more time to watch the clouds,' "Fine I'll keep mine on." He told the group.

Kiba was thinking on his own lines, 'If I keep them on I will get stronger and faster, and it also means less training when we get home. You better watch it Uchiha, I will beat you.' "I'll keep them on also."

Choji also had his own thoughts, 'All you can eat on Naruto-sensei! He better have a big wallet! Heh, heh, heh… this will also make me faster according to Naruto-sensei, he did say my speed was lacking.' "I'll keep them on also"

Naruto couldn't hide the full blown foxy smirk this time. "Glad you see it my way team, this will be great training for us all. I'd like to be back by three in the afternoon, so let's pick up the pace just a little."

Around three O'clock in the afternoon, the two chunnin guards at the gate saw four figures approaching. They stiffened getting ready for a confrontation just in case. Once they saw who it was, they relaxed somewhat.

"Halt! State your name and reason for coming to Konoha." One of the guards asked.

Naruto stepped up in front of his team to address the guard, "Namikaze Naruto; and my team returning from a C-rank mission."

The two guards nodded and allowed them to enter. The guards had to wonder what kind of C-rank mission it was though, considering how the team was; they were each dragging there legs and barely seemed to be able to walk.

After making it through the gates and into town, Naruto turned to his team. "Ok team, I'm giving you tomorrow off seeing how we're all a little exhausted, but right now let's head to whatever restaurant you want to go to. That was the agreement we made, which you came through on, so I will keep my part of the deal. Where do you want to go to eat, my treat?"

"Ichiraku Ramen is where I want to go." Choji piped in instantly.

"Works for me."

"Me to."

Naruto nodded, "Well, I have to go make a report to the Hokage real quick. It shouldn't be more than twenty minutes then I will join you there, don't wait up for me." He didn't give them a chance to reply to him, as he burst into a pillar of flames indicating one of his famous shunshins.

"Let's go guys; I can't wait to try the new barbeque." Choji said while turning around and sprinting off towards Ichiraku, completely forgetting that he was dead tired only a second ago.

"Where the hell did he get the sudden burst of energy?" Kiba asked Shikamaru in disbelief that his teammate still had energy to spare.

"Tsk… if you mention food any time, you can pretty much always get Choji to have more energy. Where he gets it though, I have no idea." Shikamaru answered as he and Kiba started to trudge their way to the restaurant.

In the Hokages office, Sarutobi was dealing with the plague of all kages, the dreaded paperwork, when he sensed that he had a visitor. But he recognized this shunshin signature better then most and looked up in time to see the floor catch on fire and a pillar of flames rise up to about six feet tall and then drop back down reveling who he thought it would be.

"Ah, Naruto how was the mission? I assume it went well?" Sarutobi asked, once he could see Naruto standing in front of him with out the flames in his way.

"Hai, the mission was a complete success; team ten had no trouble at all taking down the bandits that were raiding the village." Was Naruto's curt response.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. Did any one on the team get hurt?"

"No Hokage-sama, just a few scrapes and bruises nothing too bad."

"Good, good. I can't have my ninja getting hurt, especially the genin, seeing as they are a new team and by all means should not have taken a mission of this level so soon." Sarutobi said in a serious manor.

"You worry too much, Sarutobi-sama. Even if my team was not ready I could have gotten them out of there with out much hassle. Besides, Kiba has been bugging me for better missions since day one and I got tired of it, now he knows what they are like and that he needs more training first." Naruto said in an equally serious voice.

"Alright Naruto, I'll let it slip this time, but no more C-rank missions until you know they are ready for one." The Hokage stated in a voice that left no argument.

"Hai, Sarutobi-sama. If that is all, may I take my leave and go join my team over some brunch where I will discuses some of their training in the near future?"

"Hai, Naruto, you may leave, but do try to keep them alive." The old man gave a defeated sigh.

"As you wish Sarutobi-sama." With that Naruto disappeared the same way he came, leaving the old man to fight the good fight once more.

Arriving in a pillar of flames, at the out side of Ichiraku Ramen Restaurant, Naruto walked through the front door and went straight up to the counter.

"Ayame-chan, do you know were my team sat by any chance?" Naruto asked flashing a foxy grin.

The said girl had a small blush on but it was too small for any one to notice. "They're in the back this time, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Ayame-chan, oh and I'll have three miso ramen please."

"Coming right up." With that both of them parted to go do what they needed.

Naruto walked to the back of the joint and noticed his team eating some barbeque. Well mostly Choji was, but the others got some to.

"I see your eating well." Naruto said as he sat in the booth beside Kiba. Choji and Shikamaru were opposite of them on the other side.

"Hai, the barbeque is as good as the other places I've gone to, you should really try some of it sensei." Choji said in between bites.

"Na, I think I'll have some ramen. I haven't had any in two months." As Naruto said this Ayame came over and put three miso ramen bowls in front of him.

"Thanks Ayame-chan, I was just talking about my ramen too."

"No problem Naruto-kun. Will you be having more tonight, or are you eating small today?" She tilted her head to the side in the cutest way when asking this.

"Sure, why not, it's been a while since the last time I pigged out on ramen. How many bowls was it last time?"

Ayame thought about it for a few seconds before replying. "Well…. if I remember right, it was eighteen bowls."

The others were shocked by this, and not just team ten either. No it was the entire back part of the restraint that heard it and turned their heads to stare at him.

Naruto fortunately, or unfortunately, saw the looks on everyone's faces and scratched the back of his head, while giving a low chuckle. "Yeah well, I was really hungry that day. You know I had a lot of training that day too, not to mention that I hadn't eaten for twenty six hours."

That got a lot of relieved sighs from all around them. Naruto sweat dropped at every one else. 'Isn't this a private conversation?' He thought.

Ayame broke him out of his thoughts. "So Naruto-kun, will you be having any more and if so what kinds? I want to know so I can have them ready for you when you are done with these three."

Naruto thought about it before he smiled a little. "Sure why not, keep them coming until I say so! I'd like miso, chicken, vegetable, and beef ramen in any order, ok Ayame-chan?"

She just nodded and walked back into the kitchen to tell her father that Naruto was here and they would need more ramen for one of his eating spells. He just laughed whole heartedly and told her he would and also to tell him hi.

Back with team ten, they were currently eating and talking about random things, until Naruto decided to bring business to the table.

Naruto sighed bringing his team's attention to him. "Guys, I talked to the old man and told him about our mission. He, along with me, has agreed that we will lay off of the C-rank missions for a while."

Naruto was about to continue but Kiba interrupted him before he could. "What! Why the hell would you do that? We did just fine on that mission!"

Naruto just shook his head. "No Kiba you did not. I will agree that you guys did a good job fighting them, but you did not get out of their unscathed, you also did not work as a team. Team work is crucial to a team's survival, without it a squad will die in no time in a real mission. You guys charged in there, head on, and could have gotten yourselves killed. Shikamaru and I came up with a brilliant strategy but with you running head on into the battle, you ruined that plan. We were forced to engage the enemy head first which is a crucial mistake. You never know what is hidden on a mission, no matter how easy it may seem. For that reason, we will be resuming D-rank missions and I will also change your training schedule also."

The team was listening intently to what he was saying and couldn't help but agree with him. Naruto saw their looks and was glad that they understood, but also noticed the down cast look on Kiba. He decided he better fix that before it became some thing he didn't want. "Look Kiba, I know you're disappointed in yourself and all, but don't let it get to you. It was your first real mission and things like that are likely to happen, you just have to think before you act. If you don't, it could end up getting you and your team mates hurt or worse. Just don't let it happen again, ok?" Kiba just nodded his head still looking downcast. Akamaru barked something and then Kiba looked at him and grinned.

"Your right Akamaru, I may have messed up this time, but next time I will make sure to kick some real butt and work as a real team!" Akamaru just barked happily and the others nodded in approval. They continued to talk about minor things and eat at the same time. The three genin were having there fill on Barbeque and Naruto was eating a load of ramen. The team just stared at him as if he had another head, while he continued to eat and eat and eat. Naruto was either oblivious to there looks, or he just didn't care. He was on his twenty-third bowl when he finally told Ayame that it was enough. Every one in the restaurant just looked at him, doing a good impression of a fish.

Eventually Naruto noticed them staring and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "What, I was hungry?" Every one just looked at him and shrugged, going back to their meals.

When all was over and done, Naruto and his team had created quite a large bill. His team saw the bill and nearly choked.

It was Kiba that stuttered out a response. "H…how are y-you going t-to pay for a-all of that?"

Naruto just looked at him, Shikamaru, and Choji like they were stupid. "What this little thing?" He asked as if it was nothing.

They just nodded dumbly. If that was little they would hate to see what was big. "This is nothing for me; do you guys really think that my parents wouldn't have left me money? Hell no, they left me with a fortune! My dad being Hokage made a LOT of money, not to mention his days as a Jounin. That doesn't include my mom, who was an Anbu captain. Then, there's the fact that I'm a Jounin and make a lot of money myself also." This left the three of them feeling stupid. Naruto saw there faces and laughed at them.

After settling his laughter down, the owner of the restaurant came out and greeted Naruto.

"I see you've eaten well Naruto-san."

Naruto looked up and scratched the back of his head again. "Yeah, well you know me old man, can't get enough of that ramen. Oh, before I forget, this here is my team consisting of Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Akamaru." He pointed to each of them individually.

Teuchi just looked at them funny. "Your team sure has gotten younger Naruto-san, last time you came with some of your team they were at least twenty each."

"Oh no old man, that was part of my Anbu team. No, this here is my genin team, you must not have heard. The old man tricked me into teaching them and now I'm a Jounin sensei." Naruto scowled a little at the memory.

Teuchi just laughed at the teen. "Well I'm sure it's not that bad, besides, they look like fine young men."

Naruto scoffed at them. "They're not that bad I guess?" Naruto pouted and his team was sending him death glares.

Teuchi just laughed at them all this time. "Well I better be getting back to the kitchen, you mind paying the bill right now so I can see the small fortune I made off you guys?"

Naruto look out a huge lump of cash and handed it all to him. If you saw his face at that moment, you would have seen cash signs in his eyes and a little drool coming out of his mouth.

Naruto just sighed at seeing his reaction, and turned to his team to address them. "In two days we start your new training. Be at our usual meeting spot at seven am sharp, if you're late, I'll make you run laps around Konoha." Each member of team ten just nodded vigorously and they soon left, saying goodbye to each other.

Two days later at training field nineteen, there were three people about age twelve that were resting against a couple of the trees in the area. They each looked tired as hell too. Suddenly, leafs began to swirl around in a small tornado and then catch on fire when they are a foot off the ground. They reached about six feet tall and then lowered back to the ground turning into ash before they can touch it, revealing their sensei once again.

"Glad you could make it on time team ten." He sounded completely awake to them.

"How can you be awake at a time like this? This is so troublesome." Shikamaru yawned loudly to emphasize his point.

The other two just yawned loudly too and nodded their heads in a half awake stupor.

Naruto repressed a smirk at seeing how they acted right now knowing that they would probably be much more vocal in a few minutes, but that was yet to be seen. "Well since you guys are so awake, then why don't we do some warm up exercises first." This got a groan out of all three of them.

"Glad you agree with me team, I want to see fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups and then run around the training field eight times. Let's get moving!" With that they started their training. Naruto did the training with his team also, but he did more sets of each. An hour and a half later they were all done, each member of team ten was on the ground panting and wide awake.

Smirking, Naruto started the lesson. "Well since we are all awake now, why don't we start on the new training I told you guys about." This got each one of them to pay very close attention. Naruto, seeing them so focused continued. "Can any of you tell me what a chakra nature is?" This confused them some, but they answered as best as they could.

After neither Kiba nor Choji answered, Shikamaru sighed and begun his explanation. "Chakra nature is your natural element that your chakra can turn into. There are five main elements; which are fire, wind, earth, lightning, and water."

Naruto nodded but decided to elaborate a little more. "Correct Shikamaru, but not the full explanation. It is true that your chakra can turn into those elements but it takes years of practice to get that far. I don't expect you guys to even work on your chakra nature, at least not yet. The only reason I wanted to know your nature is because what ever nature your chakra takes on naturally, you will have an easier time learning that type of technique. Do you guys understand?"

They each nodded slowly, indicating that they kind of got it. Naruto sighed. "Well lets see if I can say this another way. I have three chakra natures; wind, water, and fire. I can control wind the best, then water, then fire. What this means is that I can do wind, water, and fire jutsu a lot easier than lightning and earth. I can still do them but not as easily as the others. Each elemental chakra I master allows me to do that type of jutsu with less chakra and more control; basically it makes it easier to do the jutsu than others. Also if you can master your chakra nature, you can have a small amount of control over that element. Nothing big of course, but enough were you can manipulate the pure element on it's own with out hand signs. Let me give you guys an example, follow me over to the river." They each stood up and followed their sensei until they reached a small river. Naruto bent over and told them to watch carefully.

What they saw fascinated them. The water rose about seven inches up, in a wavy but still stable form. It went up to Naruto's hand and then covered it completely. After a few seconds it fell off his hand, so Naruto stood up. His students were in awe.

"This is chakra nature manipulation of water, it allows me small amount of control of the water but this is all I can do with it. If it is not in direct contact with my skin, I can do virtually nothing with it. Even if it is, I have to concentrate an unbelievable amount to do just that. It is by no means to be used directly in battle; this just gives me better control over the element in the jutsu, that's about it really. So now do you understand better?"

They each nodded their heads in understanding, so Naruto walked back to training field nineteen, his team right behind him. After everyone was there in the field, Naruto pulled out three pieces of paper and handed them one each. They looked at it for a second and then looked back at their sensei for an explanation.

Naruto pulled out one more piece of paper identical as theirs and took a deep breath before speaking. "These are chakra nature cards; they will tell you what nature you are. To activate them you simply put chakra into them and then what happens tells you what nature you are. If it splits in half it is wind, burns is fire, gets damp its water, turns to dust is earth and if it crumbles it is lightning. Watch mine and you will understand."

With that Naruto pumped a little chakra into the piece of paper and it first split in half, then the left side got damp, and then the right side burst into flames. "That's it; you try it now one at a time."

The first was Choji. He pumped some chakra into it and then it turned to dust.

Naruto nodded as if thinking that would happen. "I thought so, Earth manipulation is your nature Choji. It fits you perfectly really, with your body type being strong and not very fast you would need some good defense. This will suit you just perfect. You're next, Kiba."

Kiba nodded and pumped some chakra into his card and it crumpled up into a small deformed ball.

"You Kiba have lightning; it will suit your fighting style too. My guess was either fire or lightning for you and you got lightning. With your upfront and close fighting style you can use that element to do some good damage. Last is you Shikamaru."

He just nodded and pumped a little chakra into the card and then it split in half.

"Hmmm… You, Shikamaru, have wind manipulation chakra. I was actually suspecting water because of your lazy attitude, but wind will suit you well also. You can use it in long range attacks and later when you have better control you can use it in short range attacks, but that is in the far future."

After a few seconds of silence, Choji was wondering what to do now. "Sensei…. What are we going to do now? You said we don't have the control to do the actual manipulation….. so what now?"

"Well…. I'm going to start on your ninjutsu training to begin with, but I have to think up of some good ninjutsu you could use first. Obviously they can't be too high ranked seeing as you would never be able to handle them yet, so I think I will start you off with some basic jutsus of each element, but before we do that I have to teach you a B-rank forbidden technique."

Choji audibly gulped at the word forbidden. "Um Naruto-sensei… why are you going to teach us a forbidden technique? My dad said that when a technique is forbidden, it's for a good reason." The others nodded also.

Naruto had a thoughtful look on his face for a second but it went away so fast that the others thought it was just their imagination. "Na… there's no need to worry Choji, it may be forbidden but as long as you don't over use your chakra then you should live." This did not help Choji's nerves and it even gave the others a scare.

Naruto didn't even see the looks on there faces, or he did and didn't care. "The technique is called Kage Bunshin. (Shadow clone) The technique makes a solid clone that can actually fight, but you will not be using it for that. The real reason you will use it, is for the special ability that comes with it. You see when a clone is dispelled, all the knowledge it happened to come by when alive, will come back to you. Thus, you gain the knowledge of the clone. Do you get were I'm going with this?"

"So your saying anything this clone learns, we will learn?" Kiba asked.

Choji also added to it. "As long as we can make this clone we can learn things with it right?"

Naruto nodded his head in the affirmative and turned to Shikamaru. "Is there any thing you want to add Shikamaru?"

The said boy thought for a moment before nodding. "From what I get of this technique so far, is that if we manage to create a clone, then everything that clone learns in it's time period is transferred to us. So if we made three clones, then we could learn things four times fast right?"

Naruto just smiled at them. "All three of you are correct actually. When a shadow clone is made it is made by splitting your chakra into equal parts between each of you. Then you can tell the clones to go learn a technique you want, and when you dispel them, all the knowledge the clone learned will come back to you. Like Shikamaru said, it will cut the time it takes to learn things by half if not more. Thus, you have a way to become stronger faster, but there is a down side to this jutsu. It takes a substantial amount of chakra to make, and even then you will have to have it strong enough to practice the jutsu and last a whole days worth of training. If you can manage these things the kage bunshin will become your best friend."

Each one of the genin looked at their sensei in a new light. They knew he was strong, especially for his age, but he was also very smart, he kept on proving that. He even beat Shikamaru in five games of shoji and go!

But one thing caught in Shikamaru's mind. "If you know this jutsu, then that means that you have been using it, is this how you became so strong, so fast?"

Naruto just nodded. "Matter of fact, yes, this is how I became so strong so fast. I found the technique in the library at home and it told me it's secret. I leaned it and have been using it since I was a Chunnin; I was only eight years old at the time. At first I was only able to create two clones to help me train, but now I can create up to ten clones that can last all day."

"So how do we do this jutsu sensei?" Choji asked in an excited tone.

"Well….lets see…. I guess it is exactly like the normal bunshin you learned in the academy but this time you will have to add more chakra into it and make this seal." Here Naruto shows them a hand sign they have never seen before. It was a cross of the middle and pointer finger stretched out with the others fingers in, then both hands making the same sign, put them into a cross like shape in front of you.

"After that is done, the bunshin will appear in a puff of smoke. It works by adding more chakra and the required hand seal; you solidify the air around the bunshin, compressing the air molecules until it is solid. That's the gist of it, now you try."

They each nodded and performed the jutsu. The results were surprising to say the least.

"Hell ya! I just made three Kage Bunshins! Take that sensei! I rock!" Kiba was shouting in joy at the amount he had created.

Shikamaru made two clones and Choji also made two clones. Shikamaru sighed. "Idiot"

Kiba whirled on him. "What did you say?!" He all but shouted with the added in three clones shouting out at the same time.

Shikamaru rubbed his ears in slight pain. "Damn it Kiba, don't yell so loud. You are so troublesome, besides, you may have made more clones but you still can't use them to train with."

"Huh?" Kiba's response wasn't what could be called 'bright'.

Sighing himself, Naruto decided to elaborate for Shikamaru. "What he means Kiba, is that you may have been able to make three clones, but they don't have enough chakra in them to last all day, let alone do jutsu. Actually, now that I think about it, none of you have the necessary chakra to make a decent clone. Your reserves are just too small to pull it off. Right now, the clones you made are extremely unstable and will pop any second now. Add to that, the fact that when you do finally master the jutsu; you will only be able to make one clone each that will last the whole day."

Kiba was doing a good impression of a fish right now. Just like there sensei said, the clones poofed out of existence.

"Well since you can't learn that jutsu right now, why don't we go on to individual jutsus? I will teach one jutsu to each of you and then you are to practice it until the day is over or you run out of chakra, which ever comes first."

"Hai."

"Well your first Choji. I'm going to teach you a jutsu called Doton: Doryuheki. (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall) This jutsu is a defense technique; it makes a solid chunk of earth rise up and can vary in size and how strong it is by the amount of chakra you use in it. Once you perform the correct seals, all you have to do is slam your hands on the ground and pump chakra through the ground and the wall will rise in front of you. With some practice you should be able to master this move." After showing him the hand signs and telling him to practice some distance away, Naruto turned to Kiba.

"Alright Kiba, you need a lightning jutsu right?" Kiba nodded in the confirmative. "I think the Raikyu no jutsu(Lightning Ball) will suit you well, for starters, that is. This jutsu, as the name indicates, creates a ball of lightning in the hand and can be used in close range fighting or you can toss the ball at the enemy if you wanted, but it would loose some of the power. To make the attack, do the hand seals I have shown you and then concentrate all of your chakra into your hand. It should form by itself because of the hand seals. Once you have managed to create one, practice making it bigger and stronger, and then throwing it." Kiba nodded after getting the hand seals and the instructions and then moved away to go practice the jutsu.

Naruto turned to his last student. "Shikamaru, you need a wind jutsu. Let's see…. I think the Futon: Renkudan(Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet) will do you good. It's not a beginner jutsu, but it is the lowest level one I know that will be of any use to you. If you end up having trouble with this one, then I will teach you Futon: Gofujin (Wind Release: Formation) but that is a useless jutsu unless you want to create a small breeze, which isn't very useful for a shinobi in combat. Any ways the renkudan creates a compressed air pocket that you shoot out of your lungs just like a person would use a fire jutsu, but instead its air. To do the jutsu you must make the hand seals and breath in a lot of air, then compress it while it's still in your lungs and breathe out. It should come out as a compressed air ball that can possibly break bones if you master it completely."

After showing Shikamaru the seals and telling him to work on it, Naruto couldn't help but feel that it was going to be a long time before they got another real mission. He just sighed and started to work on his Shunpo (Flash Step) that he has been developing for the past six months.

So for the rest of the day they trained together, each working on their own jutsu that they wanted to master. Every once in a while Naruto would give out hints or corrections on what they were doing wrong or how to fix what they were doing.

Author Notes….

DONE!

Before any of you ask, I will tell you this. The reason I did this chapter was because I wanted to reveal how Naruto became so strong and some more things about his past and his abilities. Also the Shunpo technique he is working on is NOT a part of his bloodline limit. That will be explained later on in the story. Also the next chapter will be the start of the wave arc.

I would also like to thank Nightblade888 for becoming my beta. He has edited my other chapters already if you are wondering. He is so awesome. He has four stories of his own and I like all four of them. I'm sure you people that read this story would to. So please stop by his profile and check them out.

No more votes please also. I have tallied them up and Zabuza will…………..

I am so evil! You will have to wait and see or count them yourself! MU HA HA HA HA HA!

Please don't hit me!..... "MOMMY, there yelling and hitting me for not telling them!"

"Oh, here, here, my baby. Don't cry. If those mean guys try to hurt you again, then I will just have to kill them in the most gruesome way possible. Does that sound good to you honey?"

"Yay!!! Mommy's going to kill the people who are yelling and hitting me! Can I watch? Pllleeeeaaasssseeeeeee!" 'Super puppy eye face pout jutsu!'

She just sighs. "Come on dear. Let's go kill them and eat some dinner."

"YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!"

Sorry about that guys. That just popped into my head, and I felt like writing it. Sccccaaarrryyyyy! Any ways,

Review…


	6. Momochi vs Namikaze

Well I got your review last chapter and I liked them. Some things I would like to say though. One is that I did the chapter because it showed Naruto's past and how he got so strong so fast and also the training he did. Another is about the Kage Bunshin training. I made it so he could only make ten for training, well I stick with it. Why because I myself (I don't care if right or not. MY story) believe that shadow clones are made from stamina and chakra. He has even more chakra than in the series, but less stamina. Now I didn't say that he could only make ten, no I said he could only make ten to last ALL DAY for training purposes. In battle he can create about 60 max more along 40 though. They only last for like five minutes if that even, not an entire day. That is why he made so little. Also if he had like 1,000 clones he would learn stuff way too quickly and I don't want that. He is already advanced. I hope this answers those two questions because I got those two a lot.

Well enough ranting. Enjoy the chapter!!!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Momochi vs. Namikaze

"You know that it's not nice to insult others pinky." Stated a boy around twelve years old, with black hair.

"Like you're one to talk Sai and stop calling me pinky! I have a name you know, it's Sakura!" The pink haired girl practically yelled at him.

"Hai, hai, I know your name is Sakura, but you love your nick name so much that I would rather use it." He gave a cheerful smile in her direction to make sure she knew that he was being nice.

"AAAAAHHHHH! I'm going to kill you!" She stormed over to Sai and nailed him as hard as she could on the top of the head with her fist effectively sending Sai to the ground in a heap.

That was the scene that Hatake Kakashi puffed into when he arrived two hours late. Sai was on the ground nursing his head, Sakura was in a rant about annoying boys, and Sasuke was brooding.

"Yo." He let his students know he was there and each one turned to look at him. Sakura was pissed, Sasuke looked like he didn't care but you could tell he was mad, and Sai gave a cheerful smile to him.

Enraged at the late arrival of her sensei again, she screeched at him. "YOU'RE LATE!"

Ok, so maybe it was a scream. "Do you have to be so loud pinky? I'm sure the people on the other side of Konoha didn't hear you." That earned Sai another smack on the head by Sakura.

While she was betting on Sai, the other two had the same thought. 'I agree with Sai, she is WAY too loud for a kunoichi.'

"Now, now Sakura, you can't go killing your teammates." Kakashi intervened before Sai had to go to the hospital. "So, now that were all here, why don't we go get a mission for the day." Kakashi turned around and walked away, ignoring there death glares that penetrated the back of his skull.

Once in the Hokage's tower, they preceded to the administration section were the missions were handed out.

Kakashi stepped forward for his team in a lazy fashion. "Hokage-sama, team seven reporting in for a mission."

The Hokage looked up and smiled at the team. "Very well Kakashi, let me see here, we have twelve D-rank missions. You can clean the park again, pick up the Inuzuka dog kennel, baby sit the Azuka twins, pick up the groceries for Kenji, retrieve the daimio's wife's cat, pick up th-"

"NO!" The Hokage looked up to see that it was Sakura that yelled, at the same time he also noticed that team ten walked in to the room to most likely get there own mission as well. "I won't go after that evil cat again! Give us a real mission! With Sasuke-kun on our team, we can easily do a C-rank, hell even Sai can help a little."

The old man was just about to speak when Iruka stood up and started to berate them. "How dare you talk to the Hokage like that? Not only that but you are only genin, fresh from the academy! You can't possibly be ready for a C-rank mission. You should-" That is were team seven noticed team ten and started to talk to each other; the genin would talk amongst themselves and the two Jounins were discussing something as well.

"Well doesn't this look like deja-vu? My team was in here three weeks ago, getting yelled at by Iruka if I remember right."

Kakashi raised his visible eye brow higher. "Is that now? Was your team asking for a higher ranked mission also Naruto?"

"As a matter of fact they were. We got it to, but we have only done three C-rank so far; nothing special."

Pissed at being ignored again for the same topic Iruka yelled out, "Are you even listening to me!?" The genin and Jounin shut up and looked towards him.

Kakashi looked at him and gave him a dead pan look. "You say some thing?" Iruka looked ready to stab him with a kunai right there, and seeing the situation heading for the worst, the Hokage intervened.

"Now, now, guys, lets play nice. But Iruka was right; your team is not ready for a C-rank mission." Sakura looked like she was going to explode, Sasuke tensed, and Sai smiled. Seeing an argument coming he raised his hand to stop it and ask for quiet, which he got.

"Thank you, now let me explain, we sent a team out to do a C-rank mission when they weren't ready and they came back with some injures that should not have happened. Therefore, I will send you out on a C-rank but you will be accompanied by another team, a team that has three C-ranks under their belts and could help you if you need it. So this will be a joint C-rank mission between team seven and team ten."

Said teams looked at each other and some looked happy, some looked pissed; others looked like they didn't care. The Hokage continued, "You will have to escort a person to wave country and protect him from bandits and the likes."

Tossing the scroll to Kakashi, he asked for the guest to be brought in. After a few seconds the door swung open and an old man reeking of alcohol came in, in fact, he had a bottle of whiskey in his hand. The man looked at them and turned to the Hokage. "Are these punks supposed to keep me safe? They'll get killed the minute we get trouble. Especially that pink haired girl. What kind of a ninja has pink hair any ways?"

Sakura pounced on him or at least tried to but Kakashi held her back. "I'll strangle you, you old man!"

Shaking his head in disappointment he talked to the client. "You don't need to worry about your safety sir. If the genin can't handle it than me and my fellow Jounin can; I promise you that Mr.…."

"The names Tazuna! The super bridge builder and you better protect me with your lives!"

"You don't need to worry Tazuna." Turning to his team, Kakashi started to address them. "Go home and pack a month worth of supplies for this mission, ten meet me at the north gates in one hour. You are dismissed." Naruto repeated those directions to his team.

An hour later, everyone was at the gates and to the surprise of team seven Kakashi was on time; quickly realizing it was not him they threw some kunai and shuriken at him, trying to kill the imposter.

"Who are you and what have you done with our sensei?!" Sakura yelled at the imposter.

"What are you talking about, it's me, Kakashi!" Throwing some more kunai at them they all yelled out, "LIAR!"

"No really, it's me, why do you think it's not?" Kakashi asked confused, along with team ten that was standing to the side.

Sasuke answered. "Kakashi is never on time! That makes you an imposter!"

Said man looked away in embarrassment while Naruto walked up to him and nailed him in the back of the head. "Why is it that you are still late to some things? I thought we talked about this a long time ago, eh Kakashi."

After the knock on the head, every one loosened up because he was the original. That hit would have disabled any henge or other illusion.

Kakashi scratched the spot were he was hit in the head and chuckled nervously. "Hai, you did, and I have fixed most of the problem, but I still can be late for some things."

Naruto just shook his head and walked out the gates with everyone following. Every once in a while Sakura would ask a question about the country of Wave, stuff like, if they had ninja, who did have ninja, and if they would fight enemy ninja.

"No Sakura, we will not be fighting enemy ninja. This is a simple C-rank mission; all we have to worry about are thugs and bandits." That seemed to bring the tension off of her shoulders. After another hour of travel, the team came upon two small puddles in the middle of the road.

Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Sai, Kakashi, and Naruto all though the same thing. 'It's the middle of the summer and it hasn't rained in weeks, how can there be a puddle in the middle of the road?' Although Kiba thought that he smelled two human scents in the puddles.

Team ten looked back towards their sensei to ask what they should do in a silent gesture. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and slowed down slightly so that he and Kakashi would be at the back of the group. Team ten and the mostly oblivious team seven kept walking as if they didn't suspect a thing wrong.

After walking past the puddle, two men in black ninja clothing came out of the puddles. They had slashed mist head bands indicating them as ex-mist ninja, and had a lethal looking chain connecting the both of them. They charged the group and targeted the two Jounins, before they wrapped them both in the chain and pulled on it hard.

The two teams spun around and saw both of their sensei's being torn to bits by the deadly chain.

"Two down." They spoke up at the same time and charged the group of genin head on but more so towards Tazuna. Sasuke and Sakura froze at the sight of them, while Sai grabbed the client and pushed him away and stood guard over him, meanwhile team ten charged he attackers. Shikamaru tossed some shuriken at the both of them and they pivoted around them to keep charging head on with out even batting an eyelash. Just as the chain was about to make a full circle around Shikamaru, Kiba kicked out and pushed one of the ninja back, while Choji punched the other away, making the chain unwind.

The chain tightened between the two ninja and both released it, so they would not be brought back together. The left one swung his clawed gauntlet at Kiba who ducked under it and Akamaru jumped out of his jacket and bit him on the shoulder. He screamed out in pain and lost his balance, stumbling backwards towards a suspicious shadow.

At the same time that Kiba was fighting, Choji was just engaging his target. A very similar clawed gauntlet was swung at his face and Choji side stepped the attack and hit the offending arm, slapping it away to the side leaving a wide open spot for an attack. He took that chance and slammed his left hand into the mist Nins gut. The man bent over in pain only to have an equally as painful blow hit him in the face from Choji's right hand, making him stumble back towards another suspicious shadow.

At the same time both ex-mist ninja stopped moving and heard a voice.

"Kagemane no jutsu, success; finish 'em off guys." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Both of his teammates replied instantly. "Hai." Kiba Tsuga'ed his guy into next week, while Choji did the Baika no jutsu on his, running him over, until both passed out from the pain.

The fight was over in less than thirty seconds and it left both teams unscathed thanks to team ten and Sai. Sakura was speechless for once and Sasuke was furious. He clenched his fists until his knuckles were white. 'I froze up! How am I supposed to beat my brother if I can't even handle these losers?'

Tazuna was also speechless. 'I thought these kids were just punks, but they actually beat those enemy ninja. I underestimated them.'

They suddenly heard clapping and twirled around as fast as they could to see who was there. Unsurprisingly for the members of team ten, there stood Naruto and Kakashi, applauding their efforts.

"Good job team, you handled that perfectly. I expected nothing less from you guys." Naruto practically beamed at them.

"You did well too Sai, you thought fast and got the client out of harms way. Sasuke and Sakura though, I wasn't expecting for you two to freeze up like that." Kakashi nodded in approval towards Sai and a shook his head towards the other two.

Sakura was just staring at them. "But…but…. how? We saw you get torn to shreds by those chains." Naruto and Kakashi just pointed to were they were 'torn to shreds' indicating the pieces of wood strewn about. They each mumbled a quiet Kawarimi no jutsu in understanding.

Sakura spun around and pointed a finger at them. "You made us all think you were dead! Why?"

Naruto decided to answer her question this time. "Well we saw the puddle in the middle of the road and decided to see what they wanted. We needed to know if they were after us or if there was a different purpose for them to attack."

He let that sink in for a few seconds before Shikamaru looked like he figured it out. "As you probably have just figured out, and by the looks of things Shikamaru has, we were not their target, but Tazuna here was. Care to explain yourself?" He asked in a deadly tone that promised pain if he didn't talk.

Tazuna audibly gulped and backed away a little chuckling weakly, before he sighed and stood up straight. "You are right Naruto, they were after me and not you guys."

Kakashi stepped forward now. "If you knew ninja were after you, then why didn't you request a higher ranked mission? Both of our teams are not ready for this type of mission yet."

"I'm sorry about deceiving you, but I had no other way to get protection. You see, our country is very poor right now and not even our daimios have enough money to afford any thing higher than a C-rank. It took every thing we had just to get enough for that."

"Hmmm, I see, well what do you think Naruto? Continue knowing that we will be attacked again but this time most likely by Jounin, or head back home?"

Naruto seemed to think about it as he looked at each of the genin, they all had different looks. He looked at Tazuna who seemed ready to beg.

Sighing Naruto addressed everyone. "If we do continue this mission, then you have to understand that this is a high level B-rank to A-rank mission. There will be more ninja coming for us next time; also I want full payment for the proper level this mission is at. So what do you guys say?"

Sakura looked hesitant but as soon as Sasuke said yes she agreed like a good puppy.

Sai said he had to keep an eye on pinky and duck head referring to Sasuke.

Kiba accepted right away.

Shikamaru thought about it, weighing the pros and con's and eventually agreed.

Choji agreed so he could become stronger and he couldn't leave his friends behind.

Kakashi just shrugged saying it was their choice.

"Very well, we will continue this mission but I expect payment for an A-rank mission when you get back on your feet Tazuna." He of course agreed as fast as he could.

So after tying up the now identified demon brothers to a tree and calling a squad of Anbu to pick them up, the two teams continued with the mission. Soon they made it to the ocean were they jumped onto a boat to get across. That was when they saw the bridge that Tazuna was building and it was _huge_! It had to be forty feet wide and it went from the main land all the way to the islands of wave country.

"You truly are a genius, Tazuna; to build some thing like this is amazing." Naruto said in astonishment. The others couldn't agree more, if the looks of awe plastered over their faces were any indication.

"Well I wouldn't be a super bridge builder if I wasn't now would I?" The others chuckled at his small joke.

Kakashi was still wondering why ninja were after him so he decided to ask now. "Tazuna, you said that you were making this bridge to make your country better right? Who would be after your life, if this will only help your country?"

That did it, the good mood was spoiled, but Tazuna knew he had to tell them. "You have a right to know, so I might as well tell you. When this bridge built, people will no longer have to use the shipping industries to trade. If that industry was still in good shape, then that would be no problem but, a person named Gato is in complete control of our shipping industry, he has a monopoly on us. With the control of the shipping lanes, you control the land, so he has complete control of our economy and he has been doing nothing but making it imposable to live. With this bridge of mine, we will be able to get rid of the need for shipping and the economy will come back. That is why Gato sees me as a threat, and why wants me dead. When this bridge is completed, he will no longer be able to control us."

"I see…well you don't have to worry, we will make sure nothing happens to you while we're around." The others agreed one hundred percent on that. After a little while more they made it to the shore and thanked the man that gave them a ride.

The mood was still gloomy and everyone was on high alert, well, everyone except for Sakura who kept asking questions and trying to get a date from Sasuke. They were walking along the path to Tazuna's house, when Kiba threw a kunai into the bushes and they all heard a 'thunk'. Kakashi walked over cautiously and came back out with a white rabbit in his hands.

Sakura exploded on Kiba. "How could you Kiba! You almost killed that innocent rabbit! What are you trying to do? Act cool or something, cause your not!"

Kiba just rolled his eyes at her. "Look, I heard a noise from the bushes and I acted alright."

"You're just trying to act…" Sakura continued to berate Kiba.

While this was going on, Naruto and Kakashi were thing along different lines than the pink haired 'kunoichi'. 'A white snow hare in the middle of summer? They only have white hair when its winter, when there is less light, which means that this one was raised in doors! It was used as a substitution!'

Naruto sprinted towards his team while Kakashi did the same, tackling Tazuna to the ground and yelling "Get down!"

Not a moment too soon either, because a giant sword at least six feet tall and six inches wide (dull side to the blade) flew right where their necks had been and embedded itself into a tree some twenty feet away. Not a second later there was a man standing on the handle of the blade. He stood a good six foot two inches tall and had no shirt on but wore blue-ish white pants that were baggy. He had no eye brows what so ever and he had bandages that covered his mouth and nose.

The man that attacked spoke first. "No wonder the demon brothers lost, they were facing two elite Jounins. Hatake Kakashi and Namikaze Naruto; also known as Sharingan Kakashi and Shunshin no Namikaze."

The group stood up and Kakashi and Naruto stepped forward. "Zabuza Momochi also known as the demon of the bloody mist." Kakashi stated as if it was common knowledge and didn't have a care in the world.

Zabuza chuckled. "So, you've heard of me too, I'm honored."

Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi asked "What do you want Zabuza?"

"Oh nothing much, just the old man, now hand him over and I won't have to kill you."

"Protect the bridge builder with your lives. Form a triangular formation around him." Kakashi ordered, not turning his back to his opponent.

"If I'm going to be facing you, this might get a little hard if I don't use this." Kakashi said while lifting up his head band so it was no longer covering his left eye.

"Oh, the Sharingan so early, I'm honored. Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" With that, Zabuza teleported to the lake and took his big ass sword with him.

'Sharingan? But how can he have the Sharingan? Is he an Uchiha too?' Sasuke pondered.

"Stay out of this unless I need you Naruto, this is my fight."

Naruto looked over towards his fellow Jounin and saw he was serious. "You sure, we could easily take him together if you wanted?"

"No, I will fight this one myself; only interfere if you have to." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto nod his head and that is all he needed to focus completely on the battle.

"Hey guys, what is this Sharingan thing? I've never heard about it." Sakura asked.

Every one was silent until the most unlikely person spoke up. It was the ever stoic, now shocked and confused, Sasuke. "The Sharingan is a Dojutsu that allows the user to see through ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. It allows the person, once mastered, to copy any jutsu in an instant and those are just the most basic features of the Sharingan."

"You are right kid, the Sharingan does have all that but it also has quite a few weaknesses. Kirigakure no jutsu." (Hidden Mist Technique). Suddenly a huge amount of mist rolled in, covering everything so that no one could see any thing.

"Eight choices: Liver, lungs, spine, jugular vein, carotid artery, brain, kidneys, heart. Which do you want to die by first?" The voice of Momochi Zabuza came from every were at the same time.

Every one of the genin was scared, hell, Sasuke was shaking uncontrollably. 'This is what it's like for two Jounin level ninja to do battle, to kill or be killed. It's too much to handle! I can't take it any more; to think that you could die at any second it's unbearable, I have to end this!' He thought in desperation as he clung onto his kunai as hard as he could and brought it up closer to his neck.

At the same time Kakashi could feel the tension in the air and didn't like it. He put his hands in the ram seal and let loose his chakra, creating a blue aura around him that exploded outward and cleared the area around him for ten feet in all directions.

"Sasuke calm down, as long as I'm here you have nothing to worry about." Kakashi reassured him with a smile.

As soon as he said that, Zabuza appeared in between the genin and right behind Tazuna with his giant blade read to kill them all. "Oh really! Let's see them survive this!" He swung his blade around, only to be stopped just as quickly with a kunai buried in his chest. The genin and Tazuna jumped back to safety, out of range of Zabuza and out of Kakashi's way, the copy ninja had moved lightning fast to intercept, before he killed the young ninja.

But instead of blood coming out of the wound like there should have been; there was water coming out. Kakashi's eyes widened at this. "Mizu bunshin!" (Water Clone)

"That's right!" Zabuza appeared right behind him and proceeded to slash him in half, only to find it out to be a Mizu bunshin too! 'What! He was able to see my technique through the mist! Impossible!'

The next thing he knew, there was a kunai being pressed to his throat. "Give up. You lost this one." Kakashi said in an ice cold voice.

Instead, he started to laugh. "YOU really think you've won don't you! Don't make me laugh. I can't be beat that easily!" Kakashi didn't like were this was going so he added some pressure to the kunai, just barely penetrating, when 'Zabuza' exploded into water. Startled, Kakashi looked around frantically when he heard Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei, behind you!" Acting on pure instinct and muscle reflex, Kakashi dropped down in time to feel Zabuza's sword going right over his head horizontally and actually scraping his hair. He spun around to stab him, when Zabuza's sword came down, vertically this time, and Kakashi managed to push off, but Zabuza planted his sword into the ground behind him and used it as a spring to gain more force, before he kicked Kakashi in the chest sending him flying into the water.

Zabuza ran after him to finish him off, when he noticed the metal spikes on the ground. "You'll have to do better than that Hatake!" He teleported over them and onto the water as Kakashi emerged.

'Why does this water feel heavier and more dense than usual?' He wondered as he surface, but then Zabuza appeared above him going through some hand seals and shouting out the attack.

"Idiot, Suiro no Jutsu!" (Water Prison Technique) Kakashi was quickly surrounded in water that was as strong as steel. "You fool, did you really thing you could beat me?"

'Damn it! I got careless and it cost me this fight, it's up to you now, Naruto.' Kakashi thought from inside the water imprison. As he was thinking this, the mist cleared to show where they were, as well as the genin teams on land.

"Now what to do with the rest of these punks? I know, how about this? Mizu bunshin no jutsu." One water clone came out of the water and charged at the genin. They were too stunned to move or defend themselves, but just as it was about to strike Sasuke, its head was cut off and it dissolved in to water, Naruto standing over its remains.

"Did you forget about me Zabuza?" Naruto asked in a cold tone that his genin team had never heard before.

Zabuza actually did look startled. 'Damn it! I did forget about him, I can't take him on and have Kakashi imprisoned at the same time! Shit!'

Naruto smirked. "By the look on your face it seems you did forget about me. There is no way you can hold that prison and fight me at the same time, big mistake on your part, Zabuza." With that, Naruto charged him head on and ran across the top of the water towards the two figures. In a desperate attempt to get some distance between them, Zabuza created more clones, thirty clones to be precise, but they lasted a whole three seconds, seeing as they were only one tenth the strength of the original. That gave Zabuza all the time he needed to consider his options. He chose to ditch the prison and fight him head on. As soon as Naruto was upon him, he let go of the prison and blocked the kunai of Naruto's with his own sword. They were in a deadlock for a few seconds and then Zabuza took advantage of their height difference and pushed as hard as he could on his blade downward. Naruto struggled and pushed chakra to his feet to make him go side ways as fast as possible. Zabuza's sword came down and Naruto spun and kicked him right in the face, sending him skidding across the water.

"You ok back there Kakashi?" Naruto called to him never turning his back on Zabuza.

"Hai, I'm fine thanks to you. I'm going to let you take care of this one; I'll go protect the genin and Tazuna." With that he started to sprint back towards land on the water and covered up his Sharingan eye, to conserve chakra in case he needed it later.

Both were now staring at each other sizing the other up. "It's just you and me now Zabuza, what do you say we take it up a notch or two, eh?"

He seemed to almost smirk at that comment. "Sure why not, let's see what you've got!"

They charged each other again and clashed sword against kunai. Again Zabuza had the advantage of strength and height and again began pushing downwards on the kunai. Seeing the same thing happen again Naruto backed off and threw some shuriken at him.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Zabuza shouted as he deflected them all with his giant sword causing the stars to bounce off harmlessly and go into the water, but before the last one did, it burst into smoke right at Zabuza's feet and turned into a Naruto clone. The clone landed on the water and sweep kicked the legs out from under Zabuza just before the real Naruto appeared above him and axe kicked him down into the lake.

Over at the shore, the genin were all watching intently. "Amazing, he's so…good." Were Sakura's thoughts that she spoke out loud.

"I've never seen sensei fight like this, this must be the reason he's a Jounin and not a genin like us." Kiba said in equal astonishment

Sasuke balled his fists in anger. 'Why am I so weak!? He's the same age as I am! I'm an Uchiha, I deserve to have power; I need power to kill HIM!'

Kakashi just chuckled at them. "This is nothing guys, they're just playing with each other right now. Wait 'till the real fight starts." The others just gave him a look of astonishment. This was playing!?

Naruto looked around, waiting for when the next attack would come. He didn't have to wait long, as five water clones came out from the water around him, swinging their swords at him. He dodged and destroyed all of them, only to hear a jutsu being called out to his left.

"Suiton: Koka Suijin." (Water Release: Concentrated Water Spike) As the name implied, water spikes came out of the water and shot out at him. Naruto jumped backwards and formed some hand seals of his own.

He shouted out the attack. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire) He breathed in and exhaled fireballs about a foot in diameter each one heading straight for Zabuza.

The mist ninja countered with his own attack. "Suiton: Teppodama." (Gunshot) Shooting out water balls of equal size, Zabuza's attack canceled out Naruto's.

Naruto landed back on the water and ran towards Zabuza. He grabbed some shuriken and tossed them before he did some seals. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Shuriken Shadow Clone) The five shuriken became 250 shuriken and Zabuza couldn't stop them all. Just when they hit him though he turned into water indicating it was a water clone. Zabuza appeared beside Naruto and slashed him in half, but he turned into smoke.

"Shadow Clone!" He said as he ducked under a swipe from a kunai that would have cut his neck. He turned around with his sword and brought it to Naruto's mid section, barely missing, but also barley missing the kunai aimed at his shoulder. They both jumped back, Zabuza putting his sword on his back and started doing seals at a fast rate that the genin on shore couldn't keep up with.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." (Water Dragon Blast)

"Futon: Kazudan no jutsu." (Wind Dragon Blast)

A giant dragon made of water circled Zabuza once, before heading over towards Naruto, who had summoned up a visible wind dragon that charged Zabuza. The two attacks collided head on and battled for supremacy. After a few breath taking seconds of struggle, both were destroyed, neither one winning.

Both ninja, seeing there attacks fail started new ones. Unfortunately for Zabuza, he had too many seals to go through, and ended up on the wrong side of a jutsu.

"Rairyu Ikazuchi wo Utte." (Lightning Strike) Naruto reared his fist back and shot it out forward aiming it at Zabuza, and hitting him square in the chest with a bolt of lightning that sent him back forty feet and into a tree hard. Before he could slide down the tree though, he was pinned by the arms to the tree, keeping him up. Naruto appeared seconds later in a tree across from him with a kunai in hand, ready to do the killing blow.

Before he could do that though, senbon needles came out of no where and hit him in the neck, killing him instantly and knocking him to the ground. Naruto turned to where they came from and saw a hunter Nin in the trees.

The hunter Nin bowed slightly to him and then spoke. "I thank you for your assistance; I have been hunting him for some time now, and thanks to you, have finally been able to kill him."

Naruto jumped off the tree branch and walked over to the prone body of Zabuza and checked his pulse. He nodded as he stood up. Just that second, Kakashi appeared beside him ready for a fight.

Naruto put a hand in front of him to stop him. "There is no need Kakashi, he's just a hunter Nin. Zabuza is dead, I've checked that." Kakashi backed off and nodded to the hunter Nin. At that time, the team of genin came over to see what happened.

The hunter Nin jumped down from his own tree and walked over to the body of Zabuza before putting the body over his shoulder. "Thank you for your assistance, I will take my leave now and dispose of the body accordingly."

With that, the hunter Nin disappeared in a swirl of leafs.

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. "Well that's over." At those words the mood lightened up some.

"Who was that guy sensei?" Sakura the 'smart' one of the group asked.

"That was a Hunter Nin Sakura. They take care of the bodies of shinobi that have defected from their village. Their job is to kill them and dispose of all evidence so others can't steal their secrets."

Sakura and the others made an 'Oh' sound.

Kakashi turned to the client. "Well Tazuna, now that we have cleared the path, why don't we head to your home for some rest?"

"Right! It should be another couple of miles and we should be there, follow me." With that they headed to Tazuna's house for some well deserved rest. Along the way every one of the genin kept giving glances to Naruto. They were each very impressed and if they had doubts about him being Jounin, they didn't any more.

Author Notes…………………………..

Now I know this was short but next chapter will most likely be the longest chapter I have done so far. I might write all the way through the wave mission, and there is a LOT I want to cover. So I might split the rest of the mission into two parts or one. They will be awesome and completely original, on what happens though. I hope you guys like my plans, even though you don't know what they are yet.

If any questions just ask and I will answer them.

Also I'm going to write another story. Two actually. I will work on all three at once. They have been bugging me for a long time and I have to write them. They are completely new stories that I have never seen done before. I've read a lot to. Some were around 330 some stories. So put me on author alert so you know when they come out. I don't plan on stopping any of these stories either. I will tell you next chapter of this story again about my new story being out or not also.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I promise the next one will be longer.

Love comes and goes, but death is all around us!

Battousai222


	7. Training and Meetings

Well sorry for the extremely long wait for this chapter. I have a reason though. Many actually. I just got a new job and it is taking literally half of my free time, I have school work, and I read my own stories also. Add it all together and you get a very busy schedule for me.

I would also like to say thanks for all the great reviews and the answers to the questions. I got 100 reviews!!! Thank you so much. You guys made me so happy. Thanks again for the great reviews everyone!!!!

Disclaimer: I never will own Naruto, if I did, he would kick ass and not be weak like in the manga!

Enjoy the chapter!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Training and Meetings

"Good morning Kakashi-san, why are you up so early?" Tsunami asked.

Kakashi looked up from his orange book at the table that he was sitting at and eye smiled at her. "Oh, just reading and planning what to train my students."

"Oh… well I'll be in the kitchen making some breakfast." With that she walked into the kitchen as she said.

Kakashi just went back to reading his book. After about thirty minutes everyone was sitting at the table talking about this and that. Sakura was asking Sasuke out on a date, Sasuke was turning her down; Sai was making sarcastic jokes at them all, Kiba was talking to Shikamaru and Choji, Kakashi was still reading, Tazuna was eating, and Tsunami was eating as well.

Then, the door to the home opened up and everyone looked over to see a sweaty Naruto walk into the room slightly out of breath.

"Have a good work out Naruto?" Kakashi asked clearly amused.

"Hai it was actually, I made some good progress on my new jutsu." Naruto sat at the table and took some food and started to eat while talking to the others.

"Interesting…care to tell us what it's called?"

"No not really, so you will have to wait and see what it is when I finish it like everyone else."

Kakashi said nothing and just went back to reading his book.

A little while later, everyone was done eating and excused themselves thanking Tsunami for the good breakfast. After that, everyone from the Konoha group headed out towards the woods that surrounded Tazuna's house. Once in a clearing Kakashi stopped and turned around to face everyone.

"As you all know, we faced Zabuza Momochi yesterday and the hunter nin killed him when Naruto was about to finish him off. But there was something off about what the hunter Nin did. Can any of you tell me what it was?"

After a few seconds of thinking it was Choji that spoke up. "Well…. aren't hunter Nin supposed to work in teams and not by them selves?"

Naruto nodded to him. "No….the hunter nin could have been working alone. It is not uncommon for a hunter Nin to go solo once in a while."

The others though for a little more time trying to find any thing that was wrong until Sai looked like he thought of something. "Don't hunter Nins destroy the body on sight when they kill a person?"

Naruto and Kakashi smiled at him. "Now that is the question of the day, why would a hunter take the body away if that isn't what they normally do?"

Choji caught on first. "You mean that the ninja was a fake?"

The others came to that same conclusion at that moment. Kakashi smiled that they could put the clues together. "Exactly, Naruto and I talked last night and figured it out. We would have told you then, but why bother you and make you have a restless sleep?"

Naruto continued were Kakashi left off. "After figuring out that Zabuza is alive and well, we came to the conclusion that he will attack us again when he is healed. We figure that we have about a week to a week and a half to prepare you guys for the battle to come."

"What do you mean for the battle to come? You can't expect us to be able to fight a Jounin can you?" Sakura asked a little frightened.

"Oh come on Sakura, it shouldn't be that hard to do. You guys are strong, I'm sure you will live to tell the tale about how you beat a Jounin." Kakashi said in a playful manor.

"Are you crazy?! We can't beat a Jounin!" She yelled back at him.

Kakashi just laughed at her further infuriating her. She looked ready to pounce when Kakashi held up his hands in a playful manor. "All right, all right Sakura, I was just kidding." She calmed down some but still looked pissed.

"You know, you're pretty loud for a girl."

"I AM NOT LOUD SAI!" She hit him over the head with her fist sending him to the ground for the comment.

Naruto and Kakashi sweat dropped at the scene. "Well like I was saying before, with Zabuza alive and well he will most likely attack in a week's time and he won't be alone. He will most likely have that hunter nin with him and a couple chunnin level ninjas this time."

The other stiffened when they heard this. "So seeing as we will be facing strong opponents we are going to train to become stronger."

"Do you think that we will be able to defeat chunnins sensei?"

"No worries Sakura, that is why we will train our hardest this week so we will be prepared for them. Now if there are no other questions please follow me." He turned and walked further into the woods and stood by a tree.

"This looks like a good place to learn. Ok, what we're going to be doing is an exercise that will help you with your chakra control. Theoretically, if you are able to do this then you are able to do any jutsu there is."

"What's the exercise sensei?" 

"Glad you asked Sakura, you're going to climb trees."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Sai looked like Kakashi has grown another head. "What does climbing trees have to do with anything? We can already climb trees." Sakura asked with a stupid look on her face.

"But can you climb trees without using your hands?" Kakashi turned around and walked towards a tree and put one foot on it and then another and another. By now he was standing horizontal with the ground and defying gravity. He kept walking until he reached a branch about half way up and then stood on it upside down.

The others were gawking at him in awe. Kakashi just smiled at them. "This is what I meant. By doing this exercise, you will be able to fine tune your chakra control and be able to be more proficient with your chakra use. All you have to do for this exercise is concentrate your chakra to the bottom of your feet and stick to the surface of the wood. This won't be easy though, as the feet are the hardest place to concentrate chakra."

With that Kakashi flipped down onto the ground. "Now you try." Kakashi tossed down six kunai and had them stick into the ground right in front of his and Naruto's team.

Each genin took the kunai and stood in front of a tree. Kakashi's team put there hands into the ram seal to gather their chakra in there feet and ran to their own tree and tried to climb it.

Kakashi was surprised at the results of what happened. Sasuke made it about ten feet up before he pushed too much chakra into his feet and propelled himself backwards and onto the ground. 'To be expected'

Sai made it twelve feet high before he started to slip and fell to the ground. 'Not bad'

Sakura made it about three fourths of the way up and was sitting on a branch. 'To be expected of her, she has very little chakra so she would need to have more control than the others.'

Then there was team ten though. He looked at their trees and found each of them at the very top of their tree, hanging upside down.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at that. "Hey Naruto, you already taught them the tree walking exercise?"

Naruto looked at him with a neutral face. "Hai I taught it to them two weeks ago, a week after our first C-rank mission."

"I see…well since they know the exercise so well already, then you should take them to go get there own training done while my team perfects this one."

"…I suppose." Looking up at his team he yelled up to them.

"He guys! Let's go! We'll train in some other place where we won't get in the way!"

Team ten ran down their trees and jumped the last ten feet or so and walked off with their sensei, never even catching the looks on team sevens faces.

Sasuke looked pissed, scratch that, he was beyond pissed. 'How are they so strong? I was the top of the class! I was the student of the year! Not them! I'm an Uchiha! I should be the strongest!'

Sai looked surprised. 'Wow, they really are strong; they're nothing like they use to be when we were in the academy.'

Sakura looked angry also. 'How did they get so good? No one can be better than my Sasuke-kun! No one!'

Kakashi watched the looks play across their faces and smirked to himself. "Well looks like their done with the exercise. They are ahead of you guys right now."

It got the reactions he wanted, they all looked pissed even Sai some what. "I guess the great Uchiha clan isn't as great as they say it is." Kakashi said with a bored look and a shrug of the shoulders.

Sakura was about to yell at him when he beat her to speak. "You, Sakura, used seven eighths of your chakra stores after only one run up the tree, you are no better."

Sakura looked down in shame at that. Kakashi turned to his last student. "You, Sai, have a normal chakra reserve, but still suck at controlling it."

With that Kakashi got up off the ground were he was resting and started to walk away. Before he left he turned his head to address them. "Keep trying to get up the tree until you can climb it ten times up and down in a row." With that parting order, he walked away from an angry, sad, and disappointed team left in the clearing.

After walking away from the others, Naruto didn't stop until they were a good distance away. Satisfied with the distance they put between them Naruto turned around to look at his team.

"We'll train here."

"What do you plan to train us in sensei?" Choji asked with some hope in his voice.

Naruto put his hand on his chin to think for a few seconds while looking up at the blue sky. After a few seconds he looked at them each. "Before I teach you any thing else, I want to see how your own training has been going on the jutsu I taught you."

"Kiba you go first."

"Hai Naruto-sensei." Kiba then stood in front of the others and said the name of his attack.

"Raikyu no jutsu." (Lightning Ball) and made some hand seal before he held his right hand to the side and a ball of lightning formed there and stabilized before he ran at a tree and slammed his hand with the lightning ball into it.

To the others it looked like Kiba ran up to the tree and just hit it but if you looked closely you could see the electricity run through the tree before it stopped. Then Kiba took his hand away from were he hit and you could see a small scorch mark on the tree.

"Well done Kiba, you've nearly mastered it. The only thing you still need to do is stabilize the attack, just a little more, and then work on the speed it forms at. You're still to slow with the attack. Choji you go next."

"Hai Naruto-sensei." Like Kiba, Choji stepped forward and called out his attack.

"Doton: Doryuheki no jutsu." (Earth Style Wall) Choji made some hand seals and then thrust his palms onto the ground and a wall of earth rose from the ground in front of him. The wall was ten feet tall and two feet thick by seven feet wide.

"Good job Choji, you made it the right size and everything. Now let's see how strong it is."

Naruto went in front of the wall and made some hand seals of his own.

"Suiton: Teppodama." (Gunshot) Naruto took a big breath and his cheeks poofed up and then he shot out three balls of water at the wall of earth. The wall held strong not even denting it.

"Very nice Choji, now let's try something even stronger." Naruto made some more hand seals and kept on going for ten seconds.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." (Water Dragon Blast) A dragon of water rose out of the river near by and circled Naruto once before it flew at the wall. The second it hit the wall, the head of the water dragon blasted apart but also took at least a foot of earth with it. A second later, the rest of the dragon went clean through the earth and was heading directly towards a stunned Choji. Luckily the dragon swerved sideways and went right on past Choji and hit a tree completely obliterating it.

The others could only stare at the dragon in awe as it tore through the earth with ease.

After Choji picked himself up off the ground and the earth wall returned to the ground he stood up on shaky legs.

"Well done indeed Choji, it took the gunshot with ease. That is the level of attack you should have to worry about at your current level. As for the dragon blast, don't worry about it breaking through the earth barrier, it is after all an A-ranked jutsu."

Choji nodded at that and felt better that his wall wasn't weak. "But you still need to work on it a little more; it should be able to withstand a jutsu like that if you master it. Just add more chakra and then compact the earth more when you create it."

"Hai Naruto-sensei."

"Ok, your last Shikamaru."

"Hai." Shikamaru stepped forward and walked to the middle of the clearing and stood facing a tree.

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet) After making the seals, Shikamaru took in a deep breath and exhaled it all at once facing the tree.

The others watched him take a deep breath and exhaled. They saw a blob of compacted air that was visible to the naked eye move towards the tree at a moderate pace. When it hit the tree, the air left a fist sized dent in the base.

"Well not bad for the level of difficulty the jutsu takes. Once you master this move you should be able to knock down the tree with it. Right now you are at a beginner level."

"I see." Shikamaru said in a quiet voice that clearly was depressed.

"No need to worry Shikamaru, if you practice this jutsu enough you'll get it eventually. You have practiced the Futon: Gofujin (Formation of Wind) right?"

"Hai Naruto-sensei. I mastered that one but I just can't seem to get any better at this one."

"Hemmm….. well can you tell me what you've been doing with this one so far?"

"Hai, let's see, first I gather air in my lungs and then I breath it all out like you said. When it's out of my mouth I compress it and it only does minimal damage."

Naruto had a look of understanding on his face now. "Well I know what you're doing wrong. Instead of compressing the air once it's out of your body, why don't you try to compress the air while it's inside your lungs. Try doing it that way."

"If you say so." With that he went through the seals again and called out his attack.

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet) He sucked in a breath and held it their for a few seconds before releasing said breath and a much larger ball of air came out of his mouth and went sailing through the air at almost twice the speed as the former one.

When the ball of compact air hit the tree it made a lot more damage than the previous one. Where the first one was fist size and about two millimeters deep, this one was about seven inches wide and about an inch deep.

"Now that is an air bullet! Now all you need to do is practice it and you should be able to master it, compact the air in your lungs even more and then practice it until you can destroy one of these trees with it."

"Hai Naruto-sensei."

After a few seconds to let everything sink in, Naruto spoke up again. "Ok, now that I've seen your guy's level, I am happy to say that you are each doing well in your particular jutsu. You only need practice and that's that. Now you guys have been learning and practicing your own family jutsu's right?"

"Hai." They each said at the same time amazingly.

"Good, well I'm not going to teach you guys any thing else on this mission, it would just be a distraction from mastering the skills you already have and…"

"What, don't you think we could master another jutsu in a week's time?" Kiba interrupted.

"No." Naruto shot him down instantly. "You may be able to learn the jutsu in a week's time but it will be virtually useless in combat and that is what you need right now."

Kiba had his mouth in a 'O' shape of understanding. "So for the rest of the week I want you guys to practice and hopefully master the jutsu I gave you and then work on your family jutsu also."

"Naruto what are you going to do during this time?" Choji was wondering.

"Me?" He got nods. "Well I have my own jutsu that I need to master; it's my first completely original jutsu that I've made."

"But my mom said you made a move called Kaizuki?" Kiba asked confused.

"Well that is true, but I don't consider that move original." Naruto looked away slightly.

Kiba was now more confused. "What do you mean, did some one else make it?"

Naruto looked back at them and answered. "No I made the jutsu by myself, but I did it after I watched Kakashi-san use his own original jutsu on an enemy ninja, I just changed the attack from being lightning to fire."

"So the rumors were true after all." Said Kakashi after jumping down from a tree and landing in front of them.

"Kakashi-san what are you doing here?" Naruto arched an eye brow at him in question.

"Oh I just though I would see what you guys were doing for training and happened to overhear the last part of your conversation; and what have I told you about the san suffix, you don't need to use it with me anymore."

"Ah yes, I forgot Kakashi." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly with a grin on his face.

Kakashi himself eye smiled. "So you recreated my Raikiri did ya?"

Naruto looked uncomfortable. "Well yeah, do you mind?"

"No, not at all, you made it on your own, you just happened to use me as inspiration. All that I ask is that I can see it." Kakashi had a half serious, half gitty look on his face.

"I guess you have the right to see it, just no copying or teaching it to others ok."

"Sure no problem. It wouldn't really matter anyway though."

"Oh and why's that?"

"I made the Raikiri to be so it couldn't be copied by any one. Even with the Sharingan you can't copy it. If yours is anything like mine, then I wouldn't be able to copy it. Also I don't have fire manipulation down enough to use it like I do for lightning." At the end he was smiling at Naruto.

Naruto just smiled and turned to the forgotten genin. "You guys can watch if you want, but right after this you have to go practice your own jutsu."

They each nodded their heads in the affirmative and stayed put. How often do you get to see a jutsu that was created by Hatake Kakashi and then recreated by Namikaze Naruto? Almost never!

"Ok guys, this is an S-rank jutsu used for assassination. I created this bad boy after working with Kakashi on a mission once. Watch closely because I'm only doing this once; that goes for you too Kakashi."

Naruto stepped into the middle of the clearing and went through twenty hand seals so fast that the genin could only see blurs and Kakashi barely saw them.

After the hand seals he hunched his back over so he was leaning forward and then gripped his right wrist with his left hand. His right hand was pointing down towards the ground with his hand open.

Suddenly everyone could feel the chakra spike and the next thing they knew, there was a strong wind coming from where Naruto was standing. His right hand had a slight glow to it and then a fire started in his open palm. It grew to about a foot in size and then compressed to the size of a fist. A ring of fire also formed around Naruto and circled him; there were flares of fire flying about his body in a three foot radius.

This all happened in two seconds and then the fire ring and flares stopped just as suddenly until Naruto stood there hunched over with an oblique ball of fire dancing in his right hand with sudden flares of fire jumping off of it at random intervals.

"Kaizuki!" (Fire Blade) Naruto yelled pushing the Kaizuki to his right side and then burst out into a full speed sprint at a tree ten feet away. He was at the tree before a second passed. He pushed his right hand with the Kaizuki straight into the tree and it went right through.

He didn't stop there though, Naruto pushed left with the blade of fire and cut through the tree and threw the same hand at another tree two feet away and put his arm right through the two foot thick tree.

The first tree toppled to the ground before every ones eyes.

Kakashi was staring wide eyed at the effects of the jutsu. 'It's the same as my Raikiri! Good god! He really did recreate it!' He thought in aw.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were no better than Kakashi if not even more surprised by the attack. Their sensei took down a whole tree and then put his hand through another like they were butter!

Kiba's thoughts were this. 'Holly hell! He cut down that tree like it was nothing and he still has his hand through that other one!

Shikamaru and Choji were thinking along the same lines.

Finally Naruto pulled out his arm from the tree showing a perfectly clean scorched hole the size of an arm going clean threw the tree.

"Well that's my Kaizuki. How'd you like it?" Naruto had a cheesy grin on his face while he said this.

The others were speechless and gawking at him. After a few more seconds Kakashi finally found his voice. "Well hot damn."

Yep that summed up every ones thoughts.

After some more discussing and explaining to team ten, they each parted to do their own training.

After telling the team to keep training and improve; and Kakashi going back to supervise his own students training, Naruto left to go do his own training.

After walking some distance and looking around, Naruto took out a scroll and started to read and edit some things on it here and there. After about thirty minutes of this he got up and stood staring intently in front of himself.

He took a step forward, moving his right foot forward and then just when the foot connected Naruto disappeared. Not even a millisecond later he was standing a foot in front of where he was just a second before, with his right foot firmly on the ground.

The next moment Naruto fell over onto his knee and grabbed his right leg. "Damn! Still not good enough to use."

Standing on shaky legs Naruto took another step forward and the same thing happened. "This is going to take a while."

Later that night everyone was back at Tazuna's home sitting at the table in the dining room waiting for dinner. Everyone there looked tired except Kakashi who was guarding the bridge most of the day.

After some time Tsunami came into the room with a platter of food in hand. They learned the other day that she was Tazuna's daughter and she has a son that they had yet to see.

"Thank you Tsunami for the food." Kakashi gave her an eye smile in her direction.

"It's no problem Kakashi-san; after all you are protecting father's life." After that there was an awkward silence where everyone just ate their food until a young boy came into the room and sat down with a scoff.

Their was some small talk about this and that when suddenly the small boy slammed his hands on the table. He stood and glared at the ninja before speaking in a pissed voice.

"Why do you even try!? You'll only get killed by Gato and his men anyways! You can't win against him, no one can!" With that the boy ran from the room and up the stairs.

"What's with him?" Sakura asked Tsunami.

She sighed before telling them everything and Tazuna would pitch in where he thought appropriate.

It turned out that a guy name Kaiza came to their town and made great friends with everyone in town. He was like a father to Inari and a wife to Tsunami. Then Gato came and took the town over, Kaiza fought him and eventually ended up dying in a public execution. That broke the town's spirit and made Inari how he is today.

"How sad." Sakura said with a few tears in her eyes.

"Yes, this world can be a pretty bad place sometimes. We ninja get to see the worse of it more often than others." Kakashi had a solemn look on his face.

"Excuse me Tsunami, but I think I'm done for now. Thank you for the great dinner." With that Naruto got up from the table and headed up stairs.

Once up stairs, Naruto heard crying and he walked up to the door that it was coming from with the utmost silence, so as not to disturb the person inside. What he saw surprised him a little. There was Inari sitting on his desk holding a picture of what he assumed was this Kaiza person that he heard of. Inari was crying slightly while holding the picture.

"Is that Kaiza?" Naruto asked in a soft voice right behind him.

Inari nearly fell off the desk he was sitting on, hearing a voice so close to him. He spun around to see Naruto leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

After a few seconds of staring at him he replied in a soft voice. "Hai."

Naruto nodded and pushed off the wall walking over to the window. He looked out into the sea and just stared out into space for a while.

"It's hard isn't it? To loose some one important to you right?" His voice was still soft.

Inari only nodded because he was currently watching all the different emotions go across Naruto's face.

"You know I never knew my parents, but everyone around me at my home village speaks so highly of them, and yet I have never even seen them in person or spoken to them." There was sadness in his voice now.

"Where are they?"

"They both died on the day I was born, I never got the chance to meet them."

"Oh."

"…. You're lucky really…you got to spend some time with your step dad before he died. You should cherish those memories not cry about them."

"I miss him so much though!" Inari cried out in anguish.

"…I once lost a friend on a mission because I wasn't strong enough; I was depressed and wouldn't talk to anyone until my sensei told me something that made me rethink things…"

"What? What did he say?"

"He said, 'When a person dies that is close to you, it is truly a sad day. But to wallow in the past is not healthy and will only dishonor his death and what he lived for. If you truly wish to make that person proud of you and honor his life, you should move on and live your life to the best of your abilities. Always do the most that you can and never give up, there is always hope there, you just have to find it. Besides, would your friend really want you to be sad about his death? No, he would want you to move on and make him proud.'" At this, there were a few tears that came out of Naruto's eyes and he quickly wiped them away.

"Your sensei really said that?"

"Hai"

"Who was he? You guy's sounded close."

"His name was Kaito Rashimero, my best and only friend at the time. He was a prodigy like me, we were both chunnin at the time, we were both eight years old and we were sent on a mission together by request, since we were best friends we always did things together, even missions. If I could, I would go back and stop that mission. It was suppose to be an easy mission of taking out ten bandits but things went wrong. It happened that the bandits were hired by some other ninja and they were disguised as bandits too. We thought nothing of it and we attacked them. The hidden ninja were all Jounin level and be were hard pressed to stop them. We managed to some how beat one of the Jounin and some of the other bandits in the process."

He took a shaky breath and continued on softly. "Then one of the Jounin got behind my friend and killed him. I…. I lost it and attacked blindly, needless to say I got beaten…easily. They were just about to finish me off when a squad of Anbu came and took them out. I-It turned out that the Hokage heard some rumors about bandits working for some Jounin in the area where our mission was. He sent us back up…but it was already too late for my best friend."

"I'm sorry….I didn't know."

"There is no need to apologize Inari. It's in the past and I've moved on."

There was a rather calm silence after that, where they both just stared out into the ocean outside. Then Naruto turned and walked to the door. Inari followed his every movement until he stopped at the door and turned slightly so he could speak to him.

"Inari, you still have family left in this world. They all care for you and hate seeing you sad, it makes them sad also, if you really wish to make Kaiza proud, you should move on and be happy for his sake. Think about what I said, would ya?"

With that, Naruto walked out the door and into the hall to see Kakashi leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"So you heard us Kakashi?"

"Hai I did." He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto to see him walking away.

He sighed and stood up off the wall and looked out the window to the forest. "We have all lost people, haven't we Obito?"

After that night, every one woke up with renowned vigor and started to train some more. Kakashi was asked by Naruto to guard the bridge so he could hopefully figure out the jutsu he was working on.

When Kakashi asked what technique it was, Naruto said it was a secret. He reluctantly agreed to do the guard duty though.

On the sixth day, everyone returned to the house except Naruto. His team asked if they should go look for him to make sure he was ok, but Kakashi said he was a Jounin and could take care of himself.

The next morning a person in a Jounin vest on was laying by a tree when he suddenly shot up and looked to his left. There he saw a girl his age walking over to him with a basket in her hands.

She was wearing a light pink dress that covered her body well in all the right places. There were no sleeves, but a sash on her waist holding it up, and there were spiral designs all over it for decoration.

She kept walking towards him and when she was close enough he saw her face. She was perfect in his eyes and he blushed slightly at the improper thought to come into his brain. 'Damn you ero-sennin!' Shaking his head to focus again he saw that she had dark brown eyes and black hair that went to her mid back with a little of her hair in front of her face also.

"Hello, what are you doing out her in the middle of the forest sleeping?" She asked with a small smile on her face.

Naruto narrowed his eyes for a fraction of a second in doubt. 'How did she know I was sleeping? A civilian's eye sight shouldn't be able to see me from that distance. I could have just been lying down.'

Even with these thoughts he kept his face neutral and answered. "I was just resting from a hard day of training."

The girl was now a good five feet distance away from him, kneeling over and looking at some herbs he recognized. "Oh, so you must be a ninja right?"

That just made it more suspicious. "Yes, how'd you know?"

She giggled and pointed to his head band with the leaf symbol on it. "All ninja wear a head band of some sort."

'Wow, I feel dumb' He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, chuckling a little. "I must look really stupid right now."

"No, not at all, just a little harmless mistake."

"So you know what I've been doing, but what are you doing out here miss…"

"Oh, I'm sorry; my name is Haku and you?"

"Naruto, Namikaze Naruto."

"Well it's nice to meet you Naruto-san."

"Same to you Haku-san, I can't help but notice you're picking herbs. What are they for?"

"Oh these things are to help heal my friend that got injured about a week ago. There suppose to be medicinal herbs and help the healing process along."

"I see...do you need some help collecting some?"

"Sure why not."

With that they started to collect the herbs that were scattered around the field they were in. While they were doing this they talked some more.

"So how'd your friend get hurt Haku-san?"

"I…well he was walking on the dock and slipped on some water and fell over the side and scrapped his side pretty badly."

"I see." 'She hesitated there for a second. She was lying to me, but why would she need to lie to me?'

"So what are you training for Naruto-san?"

"…Well I'm currently on a mission and I have to stop some people from hurting my client. So I've been training to try and complete my newest attack."

"Have you had any success yet?"

"I'm doing ok so far."

"Oh…"

"Do you live around her Haku-san? Because I can escort you back home, that way nothing happens to you."

She visibly stiffened. "No that's alright. I'm sure I can get home by myself."

'A chakra spike! She has more than a normal civilian should have for chakra! Who are you?' On the inside Naruto was alert but on the outside he showed no signs of it.

"Are you sure, there's a man named Gato around here and I heard he has some thugs and bandits that work for him wandering around, I'd feel safer if I made sure you got home safe."

"No no that's ok, I'll be fine." She reinsured him far too quickly.

"If you say so Haku-san."

There was another awkward silence were neither spoke. "Can you tell me why you fight?" Haku asked all of a sudden.

"Wha… what kind of question is that?"

"Why do you fight? I know you're a ninja and that's your job, but why do you fight. Do you have to prove something?"

"I…well…I guess I fight to uphold my mom and dads names and to make the village proud. Especially the old man."

"Do you fight only for acknowledgement by the village?"

"…Sometimes yes, but more for my friends….and to make my parents proud of me. I also have some people in that village that I would die to protect."

Haku smiled at that. "So you have some people that are precious to you."

"Hai."

"Well you'll become strong Naruto-san. When a person protects someone their true power comes out and they become stronger than ever. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

He nodded his head to her. "Hai, I've had to protect people a lot and when I do, I have the determination to not give up and it makes me stronger than ever."

She smiled again before standing up. "I must go and get these to my friend now. It was nice talking to you Naruto-san. I hope we meet again."

She stood there smiling at him before turning and leaving. She heard him speak from behind her. "Your friend wouldn't happen to be Zabuza Momochi would it?" She stopped dead in her track and froze.

"From the fact that you stopped I'd have to say you do know him Haku-san, which would make you the hunter nin."

Haku whirled around with a senbon needle in hand ready to defend herself.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her and spoke in a calm but deadly voice. "I should kill you right now Haku-san. You are putting my mission in potential jeopardy…but I think I'll let you live if you pass on a message to Zabuza-san for me."

Haku herself narrowed her eyes at him. "And why should I not just kill you right now."

"Because I have a proposition for you and Zabuza that you can't refuse."

"Oh and what would that be?"

"Our mission is to protect the bridge builder, but you are trying to kill him because Gato hired you to. If you abandon your mission, I will give you and Zabuza the offer to come and live in Konoha."

"Why would I want to come to Konoha with you? You could just turn us over to the Kiri hunters once there."

"Your right, we could." Haku tensed getting reading to fight. "But we won't."

"Why would you want us in Konoha any ways?" She asked suspiciously.

"I would like for you two to join our forces as ninja of Konoha. A member of the Kiri seven swordsmen would help our villages' strength out greatly and I'm sure you are strong also."

"I won't let you take advantage of our strength!" Her voice was deadly with a harsh tone to it.

"I meant no disrespect to you or Zabuza, I know you must have lived a hard life and want to stop running from hunter ninja that are after your heads." She visibly flinched at that.

He continued on seeing her actually interested. "All I am offering is a position in Konoha for you two, you could be safe and stop running and settle down. I don't want to have to kill you or Zabuza but I will if I have to."

She didn't respond for a few good seconds. "Can you give me any promise that your village won't turn us over to Kiri?" Her voice was slightly hopeful.

"Hai, I'm personal friends with the Hokage and I have a lot of leverage in the village because of who my parents were and what I have done there."

Haku visibly relaxed and put her senbon back inside her dress hidden from view again. She stood up straight and looked at him with sad and hopeful eyes. "I will tell Zabuza about what your offer. It's really his choice to decide, not mine."

"I see, in that case we will meet when you show yourselves again."

"Hai, I look forward to seeing you again Naruto-san."

"I also look forward to seeing you again Haku-san." With that Naruto smiled at her and burst into a pillar of flames to a location unknown to the girl left in the clearing.

Haku smiled to herself. "So that is the famous 'Shunshin no Namikaze' huh? I like his style." She said to herself and walked back the way she came to have a nice talk with Zabuza.

Authors Notes:

Well that's my chapter.

As always, any questions will be answered when asked in a reply or PM.

Thanks for reading the chapter and story. Next chapter will be out when it comes out. No promises any more. My schedule is to busy to be exact anymore. Sorry.

Review…

'Never beg, and earn by winning, or else you won't get anything at all.'

Battousai222


	8. Battles in the Mist

Well here's the next chapter everyone. It took me forever to make it because of work and crap. But finally I have finished it. I don't have much to say really. There is one question I would like to answer though. The person asked how Naruto has a perfect record for missions in Anbu when his best friend died on a mission.

Well to answer that, you have to remember Naruto was a new chunnin with his best friend Kaito Rashimero and they went on that mission together where he ended up dieing. This was before he was in Anbu. Saddened beyond belief, Naruto vowed to get stronger so he wouldn't lose people again and that he did. Then when he was in Anbu he had the perfect record. Not before then. Just in Anbu was his record perfect, at least mission complete wise.

That's al I have to say. So enjoy the chapter.

Declaimer: I don't own Naruto at all. (Cried in corner when realization hit me) If I did I would be freak-in rich and the story would be a lot better and not focus on Sasuke at all.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Battles in the Mist

The next day came around for everyone fast and hard. The previous day everyone worked extra hard to try and master their own personal jutsu to be of use during the fighting. Team ten each worked by themselves and team seven stayed together most of the time.

When it came time to leave the house everyone was there this time, not just Kakashi. Everyone had there full fighting clothes on and were ready for anything that came at them. The walk to the bridge was in silence, everyone was to tense to make small talk.

When they got to the bridge they saw everyone there working on it with extra energy seeing that it was almost complete. After about an hour of sitting around Naruto and Kakashi looked to the end of the bridge that was not finished.

They saw a mist coming in fast, too fast.

Nodding in Naruto's direction after a quick glance, Kakashi shouted out to the workers. "Everyone it's lunch time! Get out of here now!" His words were not panicked at all but they were stern as steel and the workers complied without question seeing the absolute seriousness on his face and in his voice. 

They quickly left and within moments it was just the Konoha teams and Tazuna standing their on the bridge. A few more seconds of staring at the mist they saw what they wanted.

The mist kept coming in but then stopped and then moved back again revealing seven people standing there.

Naruto and Kakashi frowned but no one on there team saw it.

"Well if it isn't Kakashi, Naruto, and there little brats. Are you here to say hello?" Zabuza asked in a mocking voice.

"Zabuza, I see you're doing well." Kakashi said in a bored tone while glancing at the others on there side.

"Yes, no thanks to you and Naruto there. You two were able to beat me before but you won't this time. I brought some help with me this time." He grinned an evil grin.

Frowning again Kakashi replied. "I can see that Zabuza. I won't let you have the bridge builder Tazuna. He is too important to this country and their recovery."

"Hahahahahaha…. Oh man you really think you have a choice here! Were going to kill that man one way or another."

"I see."

Naruto frowned and looked at the person that was around his height of five foot four inches. She had on a dark blue thick shirt and pants on that could easily hide weapons in. She also had a brown sash holding it on this time. She had on a hunter Nin mask that obscured her face but he could tell it was her. He just knew. 'Haku… why are you doing this? You looked so relived…. if not happy when I said you could come to Konoha with us. Why have you chosen to fight?'

"I think it's time for our little rematch now Kakashi!"

Suddenly Naruto's voice broke out over the bridge, loud enough for both parties to hear. "Kakashi, you take care of Zabuza. Sasuke, Sai, take on the two men on the left side of Zabuza. Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, take the three on the right side of the hunter Nin. Sakura, guard Tazuna with your life. I'll take care of the hunter Nin myself." They each nodded there heads in understanding.

In a lower voice that only they could hear Naruto spoke up. "Team seven and ten, this is no longer play time. I expect you to go for killing blows. Remember that they are the enemy and will kill you without thinking about it. I expect the same thing from you guys. Hold nothing back and stay safe. Use team work to defeat them, which is your greatest strength you have. Be careful though, by the looks of it they are ex-chunnin from the mist."

They each nodded in understanding and moved into their groups quickly to get ready. "Move!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji all shot forward to engage there selected opponents.

Sakura and Tazuna moved back to give the others some space and make sure their client is out of harms way.

With the other group right after Naruto stopped speaking loudly. "You heard him; you each have your opponents. Take them out and then kill the old man."

"Right!"

"What ever."

"Yes sir!"

"Hai."

"Hai."

They to separated into groups and then shot off to the sides or moved back to give each group room for their own battles without having to mix them.

Like ordered the two teams separated and attacked who they were told to. The fight was on.

Naruto and Kakashi stood facing Zabuza and Haku in a stand still, waiting for one or the other to make the first move.

After some intense staring Naruto sighed catching everyone's attention. He said only one word. "Why?"

That one word spoke so many things and yet left even more questions unanswered.

"It's the way of the shinobi boy, get use to it." With that he charged in at Kakashi and started to attack with his giant sword called 'Kubikiri Houcho' or also known as head clever.

Naruto and Haku just stood there looking at each other. "Can you take off the mask Haku-san? I know it's you."

"I'm sorry Naruto-san, but… if I take this off it will just be harder for you and me to fight. Zabuza has decided to fight and I will follow him to the end."

She took out some senbon needles and threw them at him straight on. Naruto jumped to the side and had to jump again to avoid another barrage of needles coming at him. By the time this had happened Haku was upon him and they started a Taijutsu fight.

Haku tried to punch him in the face only for it to be ducked under and then went for a sweep of the legs for it to be jumped over. When Naruto landed he took this time to attack. He leapt forward and tried to hit her with a punch to the gut but she grabbed his hand and pulled him into her for a vicious knee to the gut.

At least that's what would have happened had Naruto not thought fast and brought his own knee up to parry hers. They stood at a stand still looking at each other and then pushed off of each other to land a couple feet away and start some hand seals.

Haku finished first and whispered her attack. "Suiton: Koka Suijin." (Water Spikes) With that the water on the bridge transformed into small spikes and they all headed towards where Naruto was standing.

Not wanting to be impaled he jumped into the air and started some seals of his own. "Futon: Renkudan" (Drilling Air Bullet) and shot off some wind bullets at the approaching Haku.

She saw the blasts coming and shot to the side only to have to do that three more times until the attack stopped.

Naruto saw her distracted and rushed forward and slid in front of her and delivered a punch to the face that cracked the mask she was wearing, and then hit her again in the shoulder.

Haku took the hits not expecting him to be on her that quick and then leapt back from him. When she landed half of her face mask fell off of her face. Seeing that it was now useless, she took the other half off as well.

Naruto stood there looking at her sadly. "You're good Haku-san, at least mid Jounin level."

She smiled sadly at him. "Thank you Naruto-san, you're not bad yourself."

"Why must we fight, we can stop this now before it gets carried away and one of us dies. I told you that I can convince the Hokage to let you stay in Konoha. Please Haku-san!"

She looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, but this is what Zabuza-sama has decided and if he wants to fight then so will I."

"Why are you fighting for him anyways?"

"He is my only precious person. I will die for him."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds before he spoke. "You are your own person Haku-san, choose your own path and follow it. You don't have to do this."

"… I won't abandon Zabuza-sama." She looked up at him with more resolve than he has seen since the start of the fight. "Let us continue this fight now!"

On the other end of the bridge Kakashi was dodging a giant sword left and right. "You can't win Zabuza. Just give up."

"Ha! Don't make me laugh Kakashi! You got lucky last time and you won't have the kid here to save you like last time either."

"I don't need Naruto's help to defeat you Zabuza. Now let's get serious!" With that Kakashi lifted up his hitai-ate revealing his Sharingan eye.

Zabuza jumped back and laughed at him. "The Sharingan is useless against me Kakashi! I know its weakness!'

"Kirigakure no jutsu." (Hidden Mist) He muttered holding his left hand above him and his right hand in front of him, both in the rat symbol.

The air suddenly thickened and became so dense that you couldn't even see one foot in front of you. 'What's he doing? He can't even see in this mist!' Kakashi thought in slight panic.

Suddenly he heard some spinning and air being displaced that any good shinobi would recognize. He turned sharply and pulled out a kunai blocking the three incoming shrunken.

"Not bad Kakashi, not bad at all." Zabuza's voice taunted throughout the mist and all around him.

"How can you find me Zabuza? Not even you can see through mist like this."

He heard laughing from behind him and turned around to see the mist clearing slightly and Zabuza standing there with the rat seal formed.

What Kakashi saw was surprising, Zabuza had his eyes closed. "I don't need to see Kakashi; all I need is to hear. Silent killing is pretty nice, is it not?"

With that, the mist pulled back and Zabuza disappeared again. 'Damn it, I haven't had an opponent like this in a long time. This might be harder than I thought.' Kakashi thought while jumping to the side, just in time to have a huge blade hit the ground.

Just as quickly as it came, the great blade disappeared into the mist. "You can't dodge forever Kakashi." Zabuza taunted again with his voice projecting all over the area.

While the Jounin were fighting their battles, the genin were also fighting. They each separated into the groups that Naruto specified and were trying to win their fights.

Sasuke jumped to the side just in time to avoid some kunai that would have hit his legs. Just as he landed, he got hit in the face by a fist from his opponent. He skidded across the ground and eventually got his bearings straight and flipped up to land on his feet. He look up to his opponent to see him going through some seals and heard him say the jutsu.

"Suiton: Teppodama." (Gunshot) Sasuke countered by doing some seals of his own.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fireball) He took a deep breath and blew out a huge fireball that intercepted the water balls coming at him. They successfully canceled each other out.

Sai wasn't doing any better though. He was dodging kunai after kunai and was getting no head way. Finally the barrage of kunai stopped and he looked at his opponent to see him make some water clones.

Sai responded to this by taking out some ink and tossing it on the ground before making some seals.

"Sumi Bunshin." (Ink Clone) Out of the broken bottle of ink that was on the ground came ten clones that rose to the height of a human and took the shape of Sai.

Across from him, the ex-mist Nin saw this and made just as many water clones. The clones charged forward and attacked each other. There were kicks tossed around, punches tossed, and many grunts before one of them was destroyed.

By the time it was over there was no ink or water clones left. Sai then saw out of the corner of his eye Sasuke coming his way by dodging a few shrunken. He landed right beside him and looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Any luck Sasuke?" Sai asked as he saw both mist Nins join up also.

"Hn." Was his short reply. Sai smiled at him and turned to look at the enemy.

"You have any plans?"

"No, you?"

"Just one."

"And." 

Sai smiled at him before taking out a scroll. "I'll distract them while you get close to them from behind. Use one of your fire jutsu on them, but don't let them see you."

"Alright." Sai bent down and started to do some seals and when he was done he opened the scroll that was in front of him and pushed chakra into it.

"Sumi Moko, Roga Bunshins." (Ink Tiger and Wolf Clones) Out of the scroll came five wolves, and one tiger. They stepped in front of Sasuke and Sai and then charged at the two enemies.

The enemy saw this coming they acted also. One jumped to the side and threw some shrunken at the wolves effectively hitting one on the shoulder, but it didn't dissolve like the previous human ink clones that he fought. The other wolves dodged the weapons and continued to attack.

He jumped back behind his partner who was standing there calmly.

The other mist Nin started to do some seals.

"Suiton: Doryu Taiga." (Water Flow River) The attack created a wave of water to rise up to about four feet tall and went across the part of the bridge they were on and swept away all the wolves and tiger and turned them back into ink.

While all this was happening, Sasuke took advantage of their distraction and got behind them.

He did some seals and whispered his attack. "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fireball) The attack went right at them from behind.

While his partner was taking care of the ink creatures the other mist Nin was looking around for more attacks. He saw a light behind him and turned to look.

"Shit!" He yelled and started to make some fast seals. He finished just in time to save him and his partner.

"Suiton: Suijinheki." (Water Encampment Wall) A wall of water formed around them from what was on the bridge from the previous attack by his partner that was kneeling over from the chakra he used in that last attack.

The water wall successfully stopped the fire ball. Sasuke watched gritting his teeth in frustration. He charged towards the wall of water as in was coming down and just as it did, he kicked one of the men in the shoulder pushing him away from his partner.

The guy wasn't expecting the attack so he got hit and slid across the wet ground towards were Sai was standing.

Just after the kick Sasuke was hit in the gut by the other guy and backed off. He landed but had to immediately jump to the side to avoid a kick, then a punch, another kick, another kick, another punch.

'Damn it! I can't keep up! Come on focus Sasuke! See with your eyes, remember your training.'

As he was getting punched at and kicked at he kept dodging and getting hit less and less until he was completely dodging every blow. He was swerving in and out of every hit.

The mist-nin was getting frustrated. He kept trying to hit the guy but he wouldn't hold still. "Why won't you hold still and die already!" Then he noticed something. The eyes of his opponent were different! They were red with one coma in each eye!

"Your eyes,… what happened to them!?" He asked as he backed away from him to catch his breath.

Sasuke let him get away so he could also catch a breath and figure out what happened to his eyes. "What… do you mean?"

"Their red!" The astonished ex-mist Nin said staring at the blood red eyes.

Sasuke's own eyes widened some degree before it became a smirk. He then chuckled and that turned into a full blow laugh. "I've activated my bloodline! Now you stand no chance!"

With that exclamation he charged forward and went to hit the startled mist Nin in the head. He dodged but had to dodge another and another until he was hit in the gut, and bent over only to be kneed in the chest. He staggered back and looked up just in time to see a kunai being buried near his heart.

He fell down to the ground spitting up blood and choking on it. Sasuke looked down at him with an emotionless mask before he to fell down to his knees and started to breath hard. His eyes turned back to the normal black and he felt exhausted.

About twenty feet away Sai was still fighting his own enemy. They were having a taijutsu fight with kunai in both hands. They charged at each other and tried to stab or slash the other one down. They met in the middle and parried each others attacks.

Sai ducked down from an attack that surely would have taken his head off and tried for a sweep kick of the enemy, but he jumped over it trying to then push a kunai down into the same place which surprised Sai.

Sai saw the attack coming and leaned on his hands that were above his head and used them to flip backwards away from the enemy. While he did this, the enemy was just swinging down and Sai threw a kunai at him that nailed him in the shoulder.

The Ex-mist nin cried out in pain and tossed his one kunai that he had with his still good arm at Sai who dodged and ran up to him and attempted to slash him with his own two kunai. The mist Nin dodged three times before he was hit across the leg making him stumble.

Sai saw this as his chance and went to attack him again. This time the enemy couldn't dodge in time and got hit with both kunai in the chest, effectively killing him.

Sai looked at the body that was lying there not moving with a sad smile and got up on shaky legs to go see if Sasuke needed some help.

With the other genin team they were having a similar fight at the same time. The only difference was that they were sticking together from the very start of the fight like their sensei told them.

Choji, Kiba, and Shikamaru stood about thirty feet away from the three mist Nins across from them.

"Either of you guys have a plan?" Kiba asked his friends. Akamaru barked asking the same thing.

"No, you Shikamaru?" Choji answered.

Their was a pause before he answered. "Ok guys here's what I've got. My guess is that they have mostly Suiton jutsu in there arsenical, so the best bet would be Doton jutsu to counter them, but seeing as we don't have any offensive techniques between us we'll have to do our best with what we've got."

Here he sighed. "Choji I want you to head straight on with your bullet tank, Kiba come from the side and attack with Akamaru. I'll come in right after Choji and try to catch them in my shadow bind. If that doesn't work and they show good team work, split them up and take them out. If they show bad team work stick together."

The others gave a hesitant nod to him before turning their attention towards their opponents. Doing as Shikamaru said, Choji started to do some hand seals

"Baika no jutsu" (Multi size) Choji's stomach expanded until he was the size of a gigantic ball and then his team heard another shout that finished the combination off.

"Nikudan Sensha" (Human Bullet Tank) Choji's arms and legs that were sticking out of the ball, popped into his ball of a body and blue steam came out of the holes. As soon as that happened Choji started to role at the enemy at a fast pace.

Seeing Choji start, both Shikamaru and Kiba did their part of the plan. Shikamaru started to do some hand seals before muttering the attack in a whisper.

"Kagemane no jutsu." (Shadow Imitation) His shadow started to extend and follow Choji.

The enemies at this time weren't sitting still either. Earlier they had decided to fight separately to get ride of their opponents team work seeing as they didn't work well in a team.

"Stick to the plan guys." One of them said.

The only response he got was a grunt from one and a very small nod from the other.

Then they saw the human ball coming at them and one of them started some seals while the other two jumped to the side.

"Suiton: Kaihodan." (Pressure Canon) He inhaled air and exhaled a torrent of water that went towards Choji's attack head on. The others watched in fascination and small horror as the water attack seemed to slow in down for a few seconds until the user of the water attack ran out of breath. As soon as that happened though, the attack went straight for the one ninja who had performed the jutsu.

Seeing his partner in trouble, the man on the left went to throw some kunai at him when he was forced to stop and avoid a dog that came at him and then avoid a pair of deadly looking claws that missed by less than a centimeter to his face.

The man jumped back and looked at his new opponent and saw that it was the beast boy and his small dog that attacked him. He smirked at them before pulling out some kunai and gesturing for him to come.

Mean while Choji just missed the man he was aiming for because he jumped away. The man that jumped away at the beginning and jumped to the right was busy jumping away from a suspicious shadow that kept following him everywhere he went.

Choji was rolling around everywhere trying to get his opponent until he led him to the side of the bridge and he slammed into it and broke through with ease, going over the side. The man that was running away from it turned his back from the hole and would have gone to help his companions if not for the sudden pain he felt in his back and him finding himself on the ground.

"You'll be staying here and fighting me." The man looked up and saw that it was the kid that went over the side of the bridge.

"How did you get back up here so quick?"

Choji smirked at him. "I climbed the side moron."

The man got angry at the mocking tone in the brats voice and started to yell. "Moron! Why you little brat! I'll make you pay for calling me that!"

The man charged at Choji with surprising speed and managed to hit him in the chest twice before Choji got his bearings and started to defend himself. He blocked a punch, then a kick, and then ducked under a kick to the head.

Choji swung his fist out at his opponent's head but he ducked under it and went for a punch of his own. Choji side stepped it and grabbed the man's arm and tossed him away, where he landed on his feet skidding across the ground.

Choji was slightly panting wile the man across from him was perfectly fine. Choji then suddenly remembered something from his training.

Flashback…

"Remember guys, these weights are great to help you become stronger and faster but when it comes to real combat they can be a great disadvantage and a great advantage at the same time. You see if you're not strong or fast enough compared to your opponent then you can take off your weights and you will have two advantages. One you will have the enemy at the mercy of your new speed and power and two you will be able to surprise the enemy and that can give you all the advantage you need."

He took a deep breath before continuing on. "Now the disadvantage of weights during battle is the time it takes to take them off. Your opponent won't give you a minute to take them off and stretch and get use to the new light feeling of your body, but luckily for you I've made these seals that go onto the weights that will make removing them a lot easier. All you have to do is add a certain amount of chakra and presto, your weights are off in less than a second."

Naruto smiled at them each before telling them to each move forward were Naruto applied the new seals onto the weights and when he was done he did a few hand seals and was finished.

"All done. Now the seals to deactivate and activate them are..."

End Flashback…

Choji sighed in relief at remembering that lesson. 'Ok so the seals were rat, boar, and rat again.' With that thought, Choji did the seals and he could feel the weights come unclipped from his wrists and ankles and hear them fall to the ground.

Choji smirked at the cracks they made in the cement floor he was standing on. When he charged at his opponent again, it wasn't he who was surprised this time, it was the enemy that was caught unawares.

Dodging a few punches and kicks, while exchanging a few blows here and there, they soon both realized they were evenly matched in taijutsu. Seeing this, they both jumped back to get some room and catch their breath.

'How did the boy get so fast all of a sudden? I saw him make those hand signs, could that be it? Were those a speed enhancement jutsu? No, that would be too advanced to be used by a genin and they would be more visible. So they were for something else…well it doesn't matter right now, even with that jutsu we are evenly matched in taijutsu. So that leaves just ninjutsu for me.' The enemy thought as he stared intently at Choji.

At the same time Choji was thinking along the same lines. '… So that leaves just ninjutsu for me. Let's see, I have my family jutsu and my earth defense jutsu. Now what can I do…'

He would have continued to think if it wasn't for the pointy objects coming at him that he had to avoid by jumping to the side.

When he landed, he took off at a run to get away from some more shuriken coming at him and then jumped back again landing on his feet. He kept his eyes on the enemy the whole time and saw him start some hand seals while he was still in the air.

"Suiton: Suigadan." (Water Fang Bullet) Choji's eyes widened a margin as he was hard pressed to dodge the deadly water blasts. After the fifth one came by him he landed on some water and lost his balance and got nicked in the ribs.

He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming out in pain and jumped back holding his wounded ribs.

The enemy seeing this smirked and started to go through some more seals.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." (Water Dragon Blast) The water that covered the bridge rose and formed a dragon of water and flew at Choji with impressive speed.

Not having enough time to dodge and remembering that his sensei said the dragon can follow you, Choji thought fast and hard. He remembered his training and started to make some seals before slamming his hands into the ground.

"Doton: Doryuheki." (Earth Style Wall) The cement of the bridge flipped up in front of Choji and rose to about ten feet high. The slab of earth was two and a half feet thick. The dragon of water collided with the wall and shattered to oblivion only leaving a slight dent in the wall. Other than that though the wall stood perfectly fine.

The enemy mist nin was kneeling on the ground breathing hard and staring at the wall in front of him with shook. Then the wall dropped back down and he saw Choji panting slightly but not as much as him.

Choji was thinking while looking at the opponent. 'Naruto-sensei used that same jutsu on me, but his was a lot stronger than this guy's jutsu. I'd say it was more than half the power of the water dragon Naruto-sensei used. He did say it was an A-rank jutsu, so this guy must not be able to pull out the full power of it. Thank god, I don't think my wall would have held against a real one.' He sighed to himself after his inner conversation.

The enemy some how managed to stand and pull out some kunai and got into a defense position waiting for Choji to come. He didn't have to wait long either. Choji charged at him head on and went for a sweep kick.

The enemy jumped over it and went to behead him with the kunai in a reverse grip, but he dodged to the side. He attempted to again stab him, but was forced to back off to avoid a punch to the gut. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw some thing coming at him really fast.

There was no time to move as it was already upon him and the next thing he knew he was run over by a giant human ball. When he finally stopped skidding on the ground he looked up shakily and got up on wobbly legs. He looked over at the enemy and saw him charging him again.

In a desperate attempt to stop him, he took out a kunai and threw it at the Choji he was fighting with more force than before and to his surprise it hit him in the shoulder, but he disappeared it a poof of smoke.

His eye's widened marginally and he muttered under his breath, "Kage Bunshin." Then he saw the same ball as before coming at him and he knew he couldn't move in time so he accepted his fate. The ball was five feet from him when it exploded and Choji came out of it and stabbed him in the lungs with a kunai.

The ex-mist Nin fell down to the ground hard on his back. He looked up at his opponent that was standing in front of him and mutter a barely audible question. "When…did y-you…create the bunshin?" He coughed up some blood after he spoke the final word.

Choji looked down at him with saddened eyes and spoke quietly also. "When the earth wall was up I created a shadow clone to attack you. I stayed behind while you fought my clone."

The dieing man had a look of understanding in his eyes. "I-I see." With that he went limp and his head fell to the side. He was dead.

At the same time that Choji was fighting his opponent, Kiba and Akamaru were fighting there own opponent. They were currently attacking him at random intervals and it seemed to be working. The enemy was being hard pressed to dodge and was coming out with small scratches here and there.

Finally the man had enough and saw an opening to attack. He took it and slashed at Kiba hitting him in the arm leaving a two inch cut. It wasn't deep but it would hurt like hell for a while.

After getting hit, Kiba jumped back and called Akamaru over. Once they were together they nodded to each other.

Kiba bent down on all fours and did some seals. "Shikyaku no jutsu." (Four Legs) Then Akamaru jumped onto his back.

"Jujin Bunshin." (Beast Human Clone) Akamaru turned into an exact copy of Kiba.

Kiba looked up at his partner and then at the enemy. "Let's go Akamaru!" With that both of them charged at the startled ex-mist nin and engaged in battle. The enemy was stunned that there was this much difference to the speed after one jutsu.

Unbeknownst to him though, Kiba had removed his weights when he bent down on all fours. Now his opponent was getting the snot beat out of him. He had many claw marks in him and it was only getting worse by the second. In an attempt to get away, he took out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground. It gave him the cover he needed to get away for a few seconds.

Kiba jumped back seeing the smoke and saw his partner land beside him also. They looked at the smoke and both seemed to grin again. "Let's finish this Akamaru." Kiba said in a gruff voice.

"Gatsuga." (Double Piercing Fang) Both Akamaru and Kiba started to spin like a tornado and shot off into the smoke. After a few seconds of searching they found their target was on the other side of the smoke screen and went to attack out side of it.

When they came through the cloud of smoke, the ex-mist Nin's eyes widened some at seeing the tornados coming his way. He wasted no time in doing some seals. The water all around him seemed to rise up and form a thick barrier around him in a circle.

When the Gatsuga hit it, the water held strong and didn't let them through. Though they did penetrate a good five inches into it.

Seeing their attack fail, both Kiba and Akamaru let the attack stop and jumped back to catch their breaths.

After seeing the tornados stop, the water fell down and the man inside started to form some more seals as fast as he could.

"Suiton: Koka Suijin." (Water Spikes) The water around Kiba and Akamaru turned to spikes and flew at them. They did the smart thing and got the hell out of the way.

The bad thing though was that they both jumped up and left them selves open. The enemy saw this and smirked.

"Fools!" He made some seals and looked at them evilly.

"Suiton: Suishoha." (Water Shockwave) The water around the ex-mist Nin gathered and shot off at the airborne duo. As it went along the bridge it gathered more water making it bigger and stronger.

Kiba saw it coming and could think of nothing to stop it. He saw Akamaru in front of him and knew he would get the bruit of the attack. "No Akamaru!" He shouted and tried to reach him.

Sadly he couldn't and Akamaru got hit first and shot at Kiba with enormous speed. Kiba grabbed his partner a millisecond before he was hit also. They both screamed in agony as they were hit and crashed into the ground, hard!

After the attack died down Kiba looked at his partner in his arms. He was motionless and he quickly checked his pulse.

Kiba sighed in relief. "Thank Kami-sama that you're alive Akamaru." The dog whimpered pathetically in his arms.

"Don't worry boy, I'll finish him some how." Kiba got up on shaky legs and put his dog down and glared at his opponent.

The enemy just smirked at him. "I see I didn't put enough chakra into that last attack, it should have killed you."

That just intensified Kiba's glare. "You bastard, I'm going to kill you for hurting Akamaru!" With that exclamation, he charged at the smirking enemy and tried to hit him in the face. The enemy just ducked and punched him in the shoulder.

Kiba screamed out in pain and managed to kick him as he flew backwards in the gut. The enemy bent over coughing up some blood and glared at Kiba.

Kiba mean while was picking himself off the ground. 'Damn it! I can't go on like this, at this rate, I'll lose.' He thought in a panic. Suddenly he remembered a lesson with Naruto and his friends.

Flashback…

"Ah! Why can't I hit you?!" That was Kiba shouting at Naruto, while he dodged his attacks like they were nothing. A few seconds of this and Naruto got bored and swatted him away with a punch to the face.

"Getting angry won't help you Kiba." Naruto said in a calm voice with an air of wisdom.

"Shut up!" Naruto could only shake his head at him. The next time Kiba charged him head on; Naruto grabbed the hand that was going to punch him and flipped Kiba over him completely. Kiba landed on hit stomach and lost all breath in his lungs.

The next thing he knew, Naruto was sitting on his back with a Kunai at his neck. Kiba swallowed a lump in his throat seeing this.

"Kiba are you going to listen to me now?" Naruto asked in an overly to sweet voice.

"H-hai." Was Kiba's shaking response.

Akamaru was nudging Naruto in the leg. Naruto looked down and smiled sweetly at him. "Don't worry Akamaru, I won't kill him. He just needs a lesson taught to him, ok." The dog just whimpered a shaky nod at him.

Naruto assumed this was an ok and turned back to the sweating Kiba. "Kiba, listen to me right now. When a person gets angry in battle it can only mean one thing and one thing only." He paused here and then continued. "You or one of your comrades is going to die because of you. When in battle, emotions can make you not think rationally. I'm not saying that you should be a cold hearted bastard or anything, but you have to keep your emotions in check. Getting angry will only make you loose focus; it won't help you at all."

At this point Naruto removed the kunai and got off of him and offered a hand to Kiba. He took it and got up also.

"So, want to try again?" Naruto said smiling at him.

End Flashback…

Kiba shook his head to clear it and took a slow big breath. When he exhaled he was calm again. He looked at his opponent and thought of some ideas.

He put his hands in the cross hand sign, and four Kiba's popped up beside him. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." (Shadow Clone)

"Guys, I want you to attack him head on. I'm going to get him when his defense is down." The shadow clones looked at him and they each nodded before they charged in at the ex-mist Nin.

The said Nin watched him make the clones and decided to make some of his own.

"Mizu Bunshin no jutsu." (Water Clone) Two clones rose up from the ground and charged into the four oncoming Kibas. They clashed and the two water clones managed to destroy three of the other clones before they were destroyed themselves.

While his clones charged in, Kiba and the ex-mist Nin were not standing by either. Kiba made some seals and held out his right and left hand to the side, were two balls of lightning formed. Once the attack was done he ran to the side and then at the enemy Nin that was making some seals of his own.

"Suiton: Suigadan." (Water Fang Blast) He spit out two deadly looking water bullets at the two charging clones that were left. They hit them dead center and destroyed them, leaving only smoke.

"Now where did the real one go?" He looked around and then saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Kiba with lightning in his hands. His eyes widened when he tossed the one in his left hand at him.

The guy went to jump away when he felt a searing pain in his leg. He looked down and saw a kunai in the back of his leg. He looked back and saw a grinning Choji looking at him. He turned his head just in time to see the lightning ball his him in the chest.

He screamed out in pain and his body froze. 'What! That attack stunned me! I can't move! Shit!' He thought franticly as he looked up to see Kiba charging him head on with the lightning ball in his extended hand.

Just after Kiba tossed the first lightning ball, he saw the enemy grit his teeth and look at his leg. Just like the ex-mist Nin, Kiba's own eyes widened and he looked to were it came from. He saw a grinning Choji and he grinned also.

"This is what you get for facing a Konoha ninja!" Kiba said before he trust his hand into the enemies chest, just were the heart should be. The enemy didn't even get to scream before his heart exploded from the inside.

The man coughed up a huge amount of blood and fell over dead, his body still convulsing from the huge amounts of electricity running through him.

Choji went up to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Kiba, we have to help Shikamaru now."

"Hai." Kiba went over to Akamaru that was now awake and picked him up and with Choji, walked over to where they saw Shikamaru fighting his opponent.

At the same time that Choji and Kiba were fighting their opponents, Shikamaru was fighting his. The enemy was currently jumping away from his shadow and doing a good job of it. Then when he landed again he saw the shadow waiting for him. Not wanting to get caught in it, he threw some shuriken at it. It did nothing to it.

Shikamaru smirked at him. 'Perfect, this guy obviously has no idea of the Nara clan jutsu.' He would have continued to think and ponder on his opponent but then he saw some shuriken coming his way and had to dodge to the side to avoid them.

He cursed silently at himself for getting distracted and losing his target.

Said target was looking at his opponent questionably until a look of understanding came across his face. "I see." Shikamaru frowned at this.

"You use your own shadow as a way to attack your opponent. Not only that but when your opponent gets caught he will have something happen to him. Impressive attack kid, but it won't work on me again."

Shikamaru's frown deepened some. 'Damn, now he knows what my attack does, at least some what anyways. Still, now he knows not to touch it at all. This just got more complicated.' He thought. "How troublesome."

The enemy saw him thinking and decided to attack at that moment. He charged in at his opponent and went to hit him in the stomach, but he jumped to the side. Not giving up, he went for another attack, this time a kick to the ribs. Again the kid dodged but this time he backed off a couple feet.

'Damn, I'll have to thank Naruto for making me run those extra laps after this. I would've never been able to dodge those if it wasn't for all the running. Now to make it even more in my advantage.' Shikamaru thought as he bent down to his ankles and removed his weights, then standing and removing the weights on his wrists next. Each one fell to the ground with a crunch.

Shikamaru stretched and looked at his opponent. "Much better. Now let's continue please." To get his point across he took out two kunai and put them in a reverse grip so the blade was pointing outward.

The enemy narrowed his eyes and then smirked. "So you had weights on? Good, this will make things much more interesting." With that he pulled out his own weapon. It was a staff that was attached to his back before. It was five feet long and had blades at the end of both sides.

The enemy charged in at the prone Shikamaru and went to stab him with a forward thrust if it wasn't for the kunai that deflected it to the side. Taking the defense in stride he continued on. He twirled the staff around and went to hit him with the other side but that was blocked with a kunai also.

'I'm not good in close combat; I have to get him away.' Shikamaru thought as he pushed the staff back and tossed one of his kunai at the man. He dodged and went to stab the retreating genin when it was blocked again by a kunai.

The force of the push sent Shikamaru skidding back on the ground. 'He's strong.' Using his brain, Shikamaru went through several strategies before he settled on one. Putting his kunai away he formed a seal.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Two Shikamaru's popped up beside him and both ran to the sides of the man. They each pulled out a hand full of kunai each and threw them at the enemy Nin.

Seeing no way to directly avoid the attack he put his staff away and formed some quick seals. "Suiton: Suijinheki." A water wall formed around him and stopped the kunai dead in their tracks. After all the kunai hit, he let the barrier fall and had to immediately jump back to avoid the incoming shadow.

As he was jumping back he saw one of the Kage bunshin come at him. He grabbed his staff from his back and killed the bunshin with one of the pointed ends. It poofed out of existence instantly.

Just as the bunshin disappeared, he heard some thuds behind him and saw a few shuriken imbedded into the ground. He grabbed his staff and stuck one end into the ground and used it as leverage to pull vault himself over the shrunken.

When he landed he took off at a run for the one that did it. He reached Shikamaru and swung his staff at him. He ducked under it and punched him in the gut. He bent over slightly coughing up saliva and brought the other end of his staff around to slash at the crouching Shikamaru. It hit and again he poofed into oblivion.

"Another shadow clone." He growled out and looked around for the real one. He couldn't find him. The mist was too thick to see anything for more than twenty feet. He was obviously out further than that.

Then he heard the air being cut and turned in time to deflect two kunai that were aimed for his chest.

"Come out you coward and fight." He said angrily. He got no response.

Shikamaru heard him yell at him and had to repress a smirk. 'This silent thing is really working out. If I see Zabuza before he dies I'll have to thank him for the mist and the idea for using it to hide in.' He thought as he circled his enemy.

The ex-mist Nin was in a defensive stance waiting for him to attack. Every few seconds he moved a little forward to try and find his opponent and every time he did this he got some shuriken or kunai thrown at him.

'How is he doing this? He's moving around the mist so fast and not making a sound. This is Jounin level stealth.'

Unknown to him though, Shikamaru wasn't using stealth skills. No he was using shadow clone to attack him. 'Just a little longer. My clones are keeping him busy and slowly moving him this way with his back turned to me. I just have to wait here and hope he doesn't turn around.' He thought.

It was now a full five minutes of dodging the attacks and he was starting to get sick of it.

"Come out now! Stop playing around and fight me!"

This time he got his wish. Three clones came at him. One on each side and one from the front.

The ex-mist Nin jumped back when he had to avoid another shuriken from his front. 'So he's been using shadow clones. Damn, smart kid. Now that shuriken came from the mist, so that must mean there are more clones out there. I have to get ride of these ones first, and fast.'

The fist clone that reached him was on his left. It pulled out some shuriken and launched them at him. He jumped sideways and swung his staff at him. The clone side stepped also and took out a kunai. He thrust it at the mist Nin who blocked with his staff rod.

He pushed upwards, obviously showing his superior strength to the clone. He would have destroyed it there and then if he didn't have to jump back from a kunai aimed for his head. The two other clones have arrived.

The man was now hard pressed to dodge and block. Every time he got an opening he would be forced to dodge or block again because of kunai or shuriken came from the mist that surrounded him.

The man was losing energy fast and he knew it. 'Shit! I'm being pushed back and I can't get to the real one!' Dodging another attack he jumped back and heard a voice about eight feet behind him.

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet) He turned his head and saw the mist clearing up because of a huge air ball coming at him. The ball of air had to be four feet in diameter.

All he could do was watch the attack come at him in slow motion. The ball of air was twisting the mist around it and forming a sort of slow tornado. Then he saw Shikamaru behind him looking out of breath slightly.

The next thing he knew, he was hit in the back with what felt like a giant drill. The force of the attack pushed him forward into the shadow clones that put their weapons in front of them. He hit the clones head on and they poofed out of existence also, but not before leaving some damage.

All three of them had managed to stab him with a kunai. When he finally stopped moving forward, he hit the ground with a thud and didn't move. There was a pool of blood forming around him were he lay motionless.

Shikamaru himself just stayed standing were he let his attack loss looking at his dead opponent. He heard foot steps coming his way and looked up to see his last shadow clone walk up to him. It didn't say anything. It looked at the dead Nin and poofed out of existence.

He continued to look at the dead body until he heard more foot steps from behind him and turned to see Kiba and Choji walking over to him. He smiled at them.

"You guys win also?" He asked quietly.

"Of course we did! We're your team mates after all!" Kiba said boastfully. Shikamaru looked at Choji and he just smiled sadly at him.

"Good, let's go see how the others are doing." With that they started to walk back the way they came. As they walked they noticed the mist was getting thinner and thinner at an alarming rate.

"Why's the mist getting thinner guys?" Kiba asked a little frightened.

Shikamaru smiled slightly. "This is a good thing Kiba. If the mist is getting thinner, that means that Zabuza is loosing." Choji and Kiba both grinned at that and started to head over towards the others a little faster.

Author Notes:

This chapter mostly covered the genin fights and the beginning of the Jounin fights. Next chapter I will finish up the Wave Arc and they will be back in Konoha. I have a little comedy already planed also at the end after the battles are over. It should make you laugh. Also you will get to see if Zabuza lives or not. I'm so evil to make you guys wait this long!

I hope you liked the chapter and like always I will answer any questions you have and will be glad to help you understand my story.

REVIEW!

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."

Battousai222


	9. Fight of the Elites, To Begin Anew

Well this is the chapter you all have been waiting for. The end of he wave arc and you get to see what happens with Haku and Zabuza and there respective fights. I will let you read the story now. I want to say one thing though. Thank you all for the great reviews and I would highly advise for you to read the end author notes because they are important. This is continued from the last chapter…

On with the story…

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Fight of the Elites, To Begin Anew

While the genin were fighting the Jounin were fighting as well. Naruto and Haku had just stopped talking to each other and they both got ready to start again.

Naruto looked at her sadly. "If you won't listen to reason and believe me, than I have no choose but to fight you Haku-san."

She just looked at him with renewed vigor. "Then let us fight."

She took out some Senbon needles and threw them at Naruto. Naruto jumped to the side and ran forward to fight hand to hand. Dodging left and right as the needles flew by him, he managed to get up close and not get hit once.

Seeing the needles missing she decided to go to taijutsu also. Naruto went to punch her but she caught it and pulled him in. Naruto brought his knee up to hit her, but she side stepped him and elbowed his knee down.

This made Naruto loose his balance some and stumble forward some. Haku took the opening and pushed the same arm that hit his knee into his jaw with enough force to make him rise off the ground a few feet.

Naruto took the hit and brought up his leg to hit Haku in her own chin. The hit connected. Naruto's foot hit Haku's chin and both parties feel backwards. They both flipped back and landed on their feet and charged at each other again.

Naruto took out a kunai and swung at her midsection only for her to lean back some and swing at him with a senbon needle. He dodged to the side and tossed one kunai at her while turning around.

She saw the kunai and let one of her senbon intersect it mid way. They collided with each other canceling each other out. Naruto swung his remaining kunai in his right hand at Haku and she parried with her own senbon. Haku went to knee Naruto when he put his left hand down to stop it.

With her right hand she started to make some one handed seals.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'One handed seals! Impossible!' He thought as he tried to push off her.

"Sensatsu Suisho." (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)

The water around them rose up and formed into a thousand senbon needles that flouted there and then flew at Naruto with amazing speed.

Naruto's eyes widened more and he put some chakra into his left arm, holding her knee and pushed down on it. The extra strength from the chakra allowed Naruto to push her back and then he focused chakra into his feet and jumped into the air backwards to avoid becoming a pin cushion.

While in the air he made some hand seals and put his hands to his mouth.

"Katon: Karyudan." (Fire Dragon Missile) Out of his mouth a huge dragon roared and flew at the stunned Haku. She went through her own seals and put up a hasty defense.

"Suiton; Suijinheki." (Water Encampment Wall) Water surrounded her and blocked the fire from killing her. The two attacks collided and made some super heated steam form around them. They both jumped back to get away from being burned.

Naruto saw the super heated mist and had an idea. Forming some quick seals he whispered the jutsu.

"Katon: Kasumi Enbu no jutsu." (Covering Mist) He drew in a big breath and blew it out. A mist like fire came out and collided with the super heated mist making it even stronger.

On the other side of the mist Haku was waiting for the super heated mist to clear when she saw it start to come her way, her eyes nearly came out of their sockets.

Thinking fast she made some hand seals. An ice like rectangle formed in front of her. It started at the ground and made its way up until it was a rectangular ice shield. It was only about a half inch thick but it was three feet wide, and six feet tall.

Haku stood behind the mirror and put her hands on it. She waited for the mist of fire to come and she didn't have to wait long. When it hit, it shook the ice shield a little but it held strong. She stood there and could see the mist and the heat all around her going around the mirror. When it stopped she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and sighed.

Naruto watched as the mist of fire went at her and waited patiently for it to clear up. When he did he was surprised to see a mirror of some sort where Haku was suppose to be. The ground all around it was scorched and burnt but the mirror looked fine.

Then Haku came from around it and looked him straight in the eye before she spoke. "Impressive jutsu their Naruto-san. Good thing I have my own jutsu though."

Naruto looked at her and then at the mirror questionably. "I've never heard of an attack that creates mirrors, let alone one that is that strong."

Haku looked down slightly and when she looked up again she had a sad face. "That's because this is my bloodline limit. You can't defeat it. Give up."

Naruto was startled and it showed in his face. "Bloodline… I see…. How did you escape?"

"W-what…?' Haku was startled by that statement.

"How did you escape the blood raids of the mist?"

Haku was equally startled and wondered if she should even tell him. After a few seconds of looking at him she saw no reason not to and submitted.

"I didn't." She started. "My mom did though and she hid her bloodline from the world until I accidentally used it and my father saw. He came and killed my mom and tried to kill me, but I was scared and my bloodline saved me by accident. After that I wandered the streets as a beggar until Zabuza found me. I've been with him ever since." Her voice was very solemn and sad.

While she was telling him this, she was having an inner battle. 'Why am I telling him this? It is none of his business; I should just kill him and get it over with.'

Then another part of her spoke. 'But he just wants to help me out; I should accept his offer to go to Konoha.' She thought.

Then she shook her head clearing it of all those thought. 'No, I must stick with Zabuza and fight with him!'

Naruto was watching the emotions go through her facial features. He saw first sadness, then fright, then hope, then more sadness, and finally resolve when she looked back at him.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun." 'Kun…where did that come from.' They both thought at the same time. "I can't abandon Zabuza. It's time to finish this fight." With that she did some weird hand seals and said her attack.

"Makyo Hyo Sho." (Demonic Ice Mirrors) The mirror beside her thickened and then Naruto heard some ice forming behind him. He swirled around and saw the same mirror of ice in front of him form there. The mirror in front of him was about seven feet away; the one behind him was another seven feet away. Naruto looked forward again and saw Haku back up into the mirror.

'She just went into that mirror! What the hell!' Was his thought at that moment.

"I'm sorry I have to do this Naruto-san, but you have left me no choose." With that she disappeared from the mirror in front of him and Naruto barely saw a blur of movement and the next thing he knew he was stabbed in the leg with a senbon.

'Shit! She moved so fast!' He looked around for her and then looked behind him and saw her in that ice mirror. He started to make some seals when he was suddenly hit again, this time it felt like a fist hit him in the chest. He felt the hit but couldn't see it. He flew backward about three feet until he regained his balance and came to a stop.

Doing some hand seals as fast as he could he managed to do them before he was hit again. Getting up and putting his hand in front of his mouth at the same time he looked at the mirror with Haku still in it.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fireball) He blew out a giant fire ball that was at least eight feet wide at the mirror. It was a direct hit. Naruto stopped the fire and looked at his work.

He was shocked to see the mirror unaffected what so ever.

Haku looked at him sadly. "You see, you can't win. Just give up. These mirrors can't be destroyed by weak jutsu like that."

"I can't, besides I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." With that he got in a defense stance and waited. He didn't have to wait long as he was hit in the ribs and then from behind, and then stabbed with a few needles in the shoulders.

He was on the ground by the time the attacks stopped with multiple scratches and was bleeding quite a bit. He stood on shaky legs and looked at Haku in the mirror with determination.

"I won't give up!" She was taken aback by this but leveled a glare after she recovered.

"Just stay down already! I could have killed you many times by now! Why do you keep fighting?!" She was aggravated at him and her voice said it all.

Naruto smiled a foxy grin at her that made her advert her gaze slightly blushing. "I never give up. That's my nindo. My ninja way!" With that he closed his eyes and when he opened them again there was pure resolve in them.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know what you're planning to do, but it won't work. I'm going to finish this now."

Naruto responded with only one word. "Come." With such resolve it frightened her slightly. She shook it off though.

She disappeared again. The second she was gone Naruto hardened his gaze and took a step forward and disappeared just as quick. He reappeared right in front of the mirror and took a kunai out, and stabbed it into the mirror. It sadly just bounced off harmlessly.

Haku was in the other mirror and was shocked at what she just was. One second he was in front of her, and she was going to stab him, the next he was gone.

"Impossible! No one can move that fast! I see things in slow motion in here, and yet you're able to move faster than that!"

Naruto just grinned at her. "How'd you like my first, one hundred percent original move? I call it Shunpo. (Flash Step)"

"You didn't even have to make any hand seals though."

Naruto's grin just got bigger. "Yep! It's great isn't it?"

"Indeed." She tried again and this time Naruto turned to the side and stepped forward pointing to the left. He disappeared and reappeared five feet to the left with his left foot forward. He disappeared again and Haku looked around again.

'Were did he go!' She thought franticly looking around. She heard some swishing sounds to her right and saw some shuriken coming her way in the mirror. She paid no heed to them, but to where they came from. She stared intently in that direction. Big mistake.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto coming at her from behind with a hand that held some fire. She had heard from Zabuza that this attack was S-rank and she quickly jumped to her other mirror just before the hand of fire broke right through her mirror like it was nothing.

"Kaizuki." (Fire Blade) She heard him say in the other mirror.

'I have to stop him before he gets to this mirror.' She thought franticly. She threw some senbon needles at him which hit his arm. It stopped the attack but he took another step forward and disappeared.

He reappeared a foot in front of her mirror. Her eyes widened and he went through some seals as fast as he could.

"Katon: Karyu Endan." (Fire Dragon Flame Missile) He breathed out a fire that hit point blank and shattered the mirror in a split second.

Just before the fire hit though, Haku jumped out of the mirror in the nick of time. She didn't get out free though. Her right leg caught on fire.

Naruto saw a blur of movement leave the mirror and swirled around to see Haku on the ground trying to get her pant leg to stop burning while trying to remove them.

Naruto saw his chance to attack her and took it. 'I don't want to kill her.' He thought while making some seals and keeping that thought in mind he used a water jutsu.

"Suiton: Daibaku no jutsu." (Huge Explosion) Haku looked up hearing a soft jutsu name murmured and saw the water from the side of the bridge rise up and form a spiral vortex in front of Naruto and come at her.

Her eyes widened in fear recognizing the attack and didn't have time to form the right seals for a proper defense. The blast hit her head on and she was taken away by the attack. She never noticed the water put out her leg or the fact that it wasn't as big as it normally was.

At the same time that Naruto and Haku started there fight, Kakashi and Zabuza did like wise.

'Come on Kakashi, you've faced harder opponents than this before.' Indeed he has but he's having trouble keeping up.

'Damn it! Did not being on active duty in Anbu really dull my skills this much?' He thought as he ducked under the head cleaver and tried to stab Zabuza in the face only for him to disappear again into the mist.

"Hahahaha…your weak Hatake." Zabuza taunted again through the mist.

Said person snorted and looked over towards were he could hear battles going on in the distance.

"Worried about your brats Hatake?" Zabuza said from right behind him. Kakashi swirled around and managed to slash him across the gut only for him to turn into water. Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and chopped him in half.

He also disappeared into water. Zabuza growled. "Copying again Hatake. Why don't we try something new this time?"

He started to make some hand seals.

"Suiton: Koka Suijin." (Concentrated Water Spikes) Water around Zabuza started to form spikes of water and shoot them off into the distant mist. He heard some jumping around and dodging and went to help the clone out some.

Kakashi heard the water coming and jumped backwards avoiding the water spikes. He did this three more times until he started to make some seals while still in the air.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fireball) The fire came out of his mouth and hit the water in the area around himself. It stopped the attack right away. He landed on the ground and had to once again dodge to the side to avoid the head clever sword from doing its name sake.

Kakashi landed again and looked over towards were he sensed a lot of chakra being used.

Zabuza himself was looking that way.

Kakashi was the first to say something. "It seems my genin were able to defeat your chunnin. Naruto himself seems to be fairing well also."

Zabuza appeared in front of him about fifteen feet away because he cleared some mist so they could see more. "Indeed, your genin have beaten my chunnin, but Haku will win no doubt in my mind."

Kakashi raised an eye brow. "Oh, care to tell why you think that way."

Zabuza chuckled some before answering him. "Because Hatake, Haku-chan was trained by me, and is at least a mid Jounin level to a high Jounin level ninja."

"And so is Naruto." Kakashi pointed out.

Zabuza chuckled some more. "Yes but that is when Haku isn't using her bloodline limit. When she does, she is even stronger than me and can take me down with ease."

Kakashi was slightly startled and worried for Naruto. 'If that's the case, I better finish this fast and go help Naruto.' He thought as he threw one shuriken at Zabuza.

Zabuza just stepped to the side until he saw Kakashi going through some hand seals.

"Kage Shuriken no jutsu." (Shadow Clone Shuriken) The one shuriken turned into fifty and Zabuza jumped to the side having one still nick him in the ribs.

The mist came back full force and Zabuza once again disappeared. Kakashi waited for another attack to come and after a few seconds it didn't.

'Where are you Zabuza? What are you planning?' He thought. Then realization came onto him and he rushed over to where Tazuna and Sakura were.

He got there just in time to see Sakura put up a fable defense to stop the giant sword of Zabuza who was right in front of her. Kakashi put on a burst of speed and was in front of her before the hit came.

To bad he didn't put up his own defense.

"To late Hatake!" Zabuza said as he swung his sword down and cut Kakashi across the chest. He jumped back into the mist and Kakashi grabbed his wounded chest.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?" Sakura asked shaking a lot at what she just saw. Kakashi just rolled his eyes at her. If a person was just hit with a sword, a huge one no less, would you be alright?

"No Sakura I'm not, but I'll live." He told her while giving her a small smile and jumping back into the deadly mist away from them.

When he stopped running he could feel Naruto and Haku, which he was told was the hunter nin's name by Naruto himself. He felt both of there chakras start to rise. They were getting serious.

Sensing them get serious he did the same thing. He popped open one of the pouches on his vest and took out a scroll, and unraveled it while talking to Zabuza which he was sure was around him somewhere.

"We're both busy people Zabuza, so let's finish this in the next move." While he was talking he swiped his thumb across his wound on his chest getting blood on it. He smeared the bloody appendage onto the length of the scroll and it seemed to wrap itself back up once it reached a certain point.

"If you think you can beat me Hatake, then you are seriously mistaken." Zabuza taunted again through the mist.

Kakashi ignored him and went through some seals with his hands still holding the scroll while he did it. Then he finished and slammed the scroll onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no jutsu." (Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang) The ground underneath the scroll had lines of kanji spread out along the ground in a web like manor. As soon as it started though it was over and Kakashi stood up.

"I don't know what Jutsu you just used but it won't work if you can't find me." Zabuza taunted again only to eat his own words as the ground underneath him cracked.

He looked down just in time to see five dogs jump out of the ground and attack him. Two on each limb and one on his shoulder. He cried out in pain.

The scream was music to Kakashi's ears. "Now what were you saying about not being able to find you?" Kakashi asked turning to face Zabuza seeing the mist clear up a lot.

"Finally the mist is clearing up." He stated matter-of-factly.

Zabuza growled. "How did you find me?"

Kakashi looked over at him. "Did you really think I would let you hit me with your sword on purpose? No, I let you get me. I used my own blood on your sword to find you using my ninja dogs."

Zabuza had a look of understanding on his face. "So you're going to kill me now that I'm defenseless Kakashi?"

Said person just grinned. "Since you didn't accept Naruto's most generous and true offer, I have no chose. Any last words Zabuza?"

Said man had a solemn look on his face. "The offer was true then? You weren't going to betray us and turn us into the mist hunter Nin?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No Zabuza, Naruto is an honest person and doesn't go back on his words. It was one hundred percent true."

"I see."

They would have continued to talk if it wasn't for the sound of rushing water coming there way. By now almost the entire bridge was clear of mist. Enough were everyone could see each other. Most importantly though, was that Kakashi and Zabuza could see the incoming cyclone of water coming straight for them.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he jumped to the side, but Zabuza wasn't so lucky. He was held down by five dogs and couldn't move.

Zabuza himself was wide eyed. Not because of the attack coming straight for him. Well, maybe a little. But because the person inside of that attack was none other than Haku. His brain came up with the quick conclusion of what happened. 'Haku lost!'

Right after he thought that, he was hit directly with the full force of the water and one shinobi girl. The dogs poofed out of existence the second the attack hit, but Zabuza wasn't so lucky. He went fly with the attack and Haku for a good thirty feet before they stopped. Zabuza held onto Haku's body as they skidded across the surface of the bridge.

When Kakashi jumped out of the way he looked to were the attack came from and saw none other than Naruto himself that performed the attack.

When he landed, Naruto jogged up to him looking as exhausted as Kakashi was. They stood their looking at the fallen enemy.

"I see you won Naruto." Kakashi stated off handedly as he covered up his Sharingan eye with his head band.

"Hai, though I didn't kill her."

Kakashi raised an eye brow at him silently asking why. Naruto saw this and decided to elaborate.

"She didn't want to fight me, but Zabuza told her to. They go way back and I just couldn't do it."

Kakashi accepted this answer and looked at the approaching genin. Naruto did the same. He saw all his and Kakashi's genin looking worse for wear but none the less alive.

"It seems our genin won also." Kakashi stated again.

"Hai, though they all look ready to collapse." Kakashi could only smile at him and his genin team.

On the other side of the bridge Zabuza was lying on his back with Haku beside him a few feet away. He looked at her frightened.

'No… Haku, please be alive!' He thought frantically. He got up after a few seconds and walked over to Haku in a hurry. He bent down and checked her pulse.

"Thank Kami-sama you're alive Haku-chan. I would never forgive myself if you died." He said to himself quietly. Unfortunately for him, Haku woke up at that time and smiled kindly up at him.

She gurgled a little water before spiting it out and said quietly. "Thanks you Zabuza-sama."

Zabuza himself was surprised she was awake and smiled lightly at her. "No problem kid. And call me Zabuza-san or just Zabuza, please."

In an equally quite voice as before she replied, "Hai Zabuza."

That's when Zabuza heard foot steps behind him and looked behind himself to see Naruto and Kakashi walking over to them. Zabuza got up and picked up his sword and got into a defense stance.

Naruto and Kakashi stopped and Naruto held up his hands saying stop. "Whoa, Zabuza, I have no intention of finishing you off, unless you attack us first."

Zabuza looked him in the eye and still wouldn't get out of the defense stance until he felt some thing tug at his pant leg. He looked down and saw it was Haku.

She shook her head, saying no. "He could have killed me with that last attack Zabuza, but he didn't, he held back. Please stop fighting. I don't want to be a missing Nin any more, please." Her voice was sad and begging and her eyes were starting to water up.

Zabuza looked at her and his eyes softened. "Alright Haku-chan. We'll stop."

Her eyes looked more grateful then he had seen them in a very long time. He could only smile slightly at her.

Kakashi and Naruto themselves could only look on with there own smiles also.

That was until they heard the sound of a cane being taped on the ground.

Everyone present looked over to the source and saw a short man with a business suit on with a cane standing their with a small army of samurai, thugs, and bandits behind him.

"Well, well, well… look what we have here. The little demon got his butt kicked by a bunch of brats." The short man with the cane said way too smugly.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you doing here Gato?! This wasn't part of the deal we made." He said in an angry voice.

The now identified Gato smirked. "Deal? If I remember right, our deal was for you to kill the old man. You have yet to do so Zabuza-_kun_."

Zabuza growled at him.

Seeing this just made Gato grin even more showing how evil he truly was. "Since you haven't kept your part of the deal, then I was forced to use some other methods to make sure the old man will die."

Taking a breath he continued. "You see Zabuza_-kun_," said man growled even more, "You are rather expensive and once done with you, it's hard to get ride of you. I can't just go around and kill ninja from villages because then they would be after my head. So I just hired an army of thugs and samurai to finish you off. They are loyal and do what I ask. They may be more expensive, but they are worth it to see you die."

By the end of his little speech, Zabuza was ready to go in and kill him. The only thing stopping him was Haku that still had a hold of his pant leg.

"Haku let me go. I'm going to kill that flee bag!" He said in an angry voice directed at Gato not Haku.

She still didn't let go. He would have yelled at her to let go if Naruto didn't step forward and start to talk.

"I suggest you leave now Gato. You won't be able to defeat three Jounin level ninja." He said in a calm but cold voice that sent a chill down the genin present and Gato's spine.

"O-oh and what is a little punk like you going to do about it."

"This." With that Naruto started to make seals at a fast rate only to stop as Gato snapped his fingers and one of the bandits stepped forward holding a tied up Tsunami that looked rather unharmed except for a small bruise on her cheek.

"If you try anything brat, I'll have this women killed." He said with glee seeing them all glare at him.

"Tsunami! What have you done to her?!" Tazuna yelled as he started to run at the group only to be grabbed by Kakashi and held in place. He struggled but to no avail.

"Let me go! I have to help her!" He yelled at the person restraining him.

"I can't do that Tazuna. If I let you go, you'll only get yourself and possibly your daughter killed also." Kakashi said in a calm manner never taking his eyes off the army of enemies.

That seemed to calm him down enough for him to stop struggling. Kakashi looked down at him and let him go. He stumbled at little before turning to the ninja present.

"Aren't you going to save her?! That's what I paid you for! Go and help her!" He yelled as he had tears coming from his eyes.

Before they could respond, they heard laughter coming from Gato. "Hahahaha… don't make me laugh so hard. You guys are weak! You will all die here today!" With that exclamation the army cheered of approval.

Now the genin were standing right beside the Jounin and looking at them for answers. "What are we going to do sensei?" Sakura asked truly worried for once.

He just shook his head. "I don't know. None of us are fast enough to travel that amount of distance before anyone of the bandits can kill her."

"Please you have to try!" Tazuna said in desperation.

"Naruto-kun… you can do it. I've never seen some one move as fast as you did when we fought." Everyone looked over to see that it was Haku that said it.

'Naruto-kun? Where did that come from? Again?' Were the thoughts of Kakashi, Zabuza, Naruto and Haku respectively.

Deciding to question her later about this new affection for the blonde, Zabuza turned his head to Naruto. "What's she talking about boy?"

Gritting his teeth slightly he addressed the question asked. "Stop calling me boy for one. Secondly, it's my new technique. It allows me to move at abnormally high speeds."

Kakashi looked startled slightly. "Do you mean…"

Naruto cut him off. "No it's not my bloodline; it's a technique I developed myself to look and act like my bloodline. The problem is I haven't mastered it yet."

The others looked dejected slightly. "Can you do it?" Kakashi asked anyways.

Naruto looked at the army and seemed to be judging something in his head. After a few seconds he turned his head to the others. "I think so, but it will be close. Let's hope they don't have good reaction speed."

Kakashi and Zabuza seemed to nod. The genin looked at each other and then at the Jounin. Shikamaru asked their group question. "What do you want us to do?"

The others looked startled for a second, seemingly forgotten about them. Kakashi turned to them fully. "You are to stay here and protect Tazuna."

Sasuke was about to protest when Kakashi budged in before he could. "I don't care what you think Sasuke! You guys are staying here. You are too exhausted and would only get in the way if you tried to help out now!" His voice had the tone of finality in it and no one seemed to be able to argue with him. He turned back towards the army.

"What are you fools arguing about over their!" Gato yelled at them.

"Any time Uzumaki." Zabuza said getting impatient.

"Their getting edgy." Kakashi said.

Naruto just nodded. "When I start to move, you guys follow immediately after me. After I do this technique from such a long range and in short bursts, I will have utterly exhausted my chakra to near nothing and need you guys there to help me out."

"Hai." They both said at the same time.

"Enough of your little conversation. Get ready guys!" Gato said to the group of bandits that cheered and drew their weapons.

"Atta-" Gato started only to be stopped as he saw the Jounin ninja each charge at him.

When Gato said 'get ready guys' Naruto started to gather the remnants of his chakra, the others around him could feel him gathering it because of the large amounts being gathered.

Then they just barely heard Naruto say it in a harsh whisper, "Shunpo!"

With that Naruto took a step forward using his right foot and when it hit the ground, Naruto seemed to disappear completely and reappear ten feet in front of them with the same foot on the ground.

He took another step; this time with his left foot, and was another ten feet ahead. By this time Kakashi and Zabuza were only taking their second step sixteen feet behind him.

Naruto took five more steps, making it right in front of the startled army and in front of the one holding Tsunami.

By the time Naruto had taken seven steps and covered seventy feet in less than two seconds, Kakashi and Zabuza were taking there seventh step and had there eyes bugging out of their sockets like everyone else.

They all shared one thought at that time. 'Holly shit that was fast!'

"-ck" Gato finished his statement just when Naruto was in front of the army.

Naruto appeared in front of them on his right foot and pushed off the ground, and kneed the person holding Tsunami in the head, pushing his nose into his brain killing him almost instantly. Naruto pushed off him and pushed his legs to the side kicking the two closest people away and leaving some very big bruises.

Before the startled Tsunami could hit the ground though, Naruto grabbed her by the waste and jumped backwards four times letting Kakashi and Zabuza shoot past them toward the army of bandits. Naruto landed by Tazuna and the other genin and put her down.

Then before anyone could say anything he fell to one of his knees and started to pant extremely hard.

Kakashi and Zabuza at this time were slicing away at the army of bandits. Gato was trying to run to the back to get away but before he could even get to the back Zabuza appeared in front of him.

"Were do you think you're going Gato!" Gato backed away from him and all he could see was a devil looking at him.

Before he got one foot he found his head missing and his body falling to the ground dead. Kakashi appeared beside him and they walked threw the crowd of people that separated for them. They walked over towards the others and turned around once there.

Zabuza grinned at them viciously. "Any one else want a piece of us?" They seemed to shake in fear until one of them spoke up.

"It's only two men! We can take them!" That settled there fears and they cheered until an arrow lodged itself into the ground in front of them.

They looked over and saw it was Inari who shot it. He looked slightly beat up with a bruised cheek and dirty clothes but none the less alive and standing. "If you're going to fight them you're going to have to fight us too!" The crowd of villagers armed to the bone with various makeshift weapons, cheered behind him.

The bandits did the smart thing and ran for their pathetic lives. The crowd cheered and Inari ran over to his mom and started to cry in her arms.

The others smiled at them until they saw the crowd moving towards Haku and Zabuza. Naruto stood on shaky legs and moved in front of them blocking their path.

"Move ninja! They are the enemy!" One of them shouted. Naruto didn't even flinch at all to the shout. He just shook his head no and said in a quiet voice.

"They are allies now. They helped kill Gato and his men. Leave them be." The crowd looked untrustworthy of his words.

"If Naruto-oniisan says their ok, then they're ok." Inari said, defending his big brother figure. The crowd of people accepted this and stood down but were still on guard.

Seeing this Zabuza picked up Haku bridal style and walked over to Naruto, who was resting against the side of the bridge. "We'll be seeing you soon kid. Take care."

Naruto looked up from were he was resting and saw Zabuza and Haku. "Were will you be going?"

Zabuza just shrugged. "Don't know, but were not welcome here right now. It would be better if we stayed clear of the bridge and town for now."

"I see, then take care of Haku-san for me, will ya?" He asked weakly.

Said girl started to blush. Zabuza saw this and grinned. "I'll keep your new girlfriend safe, don't worry."

Before Naruto could respond, Zabuza disappeared in a swirl of mist. Kakashi was standing near by and couldn't help but grin. "Sooooo… you got a girlfriend I hear…" He said innocently.

Naruto's face turned beat read before he looked away finding the other end of the bridge very interesting. "Shut up! I consider her just a friend!" He said in his defense haughtily.

Kakashi just grinned again. "Riiiiight. I wonder what the NFC (Naruto Fan Club) will think about this?" He said off handedly.

Naruto paled and turned his head so fast Kakashi wondered if he got whiplash. "You wouldn't dare! It took me forever to get them to stop stalking me all the time!"

"Hehehe… why shouldn't I?" Naruto got up and ran after the running away Kakashi seemingly forgetting about his injuries and exhaustion for the moment.

While running Naruto was yelling profanities at him. "If you do, I'll burn every one of your Icha Icha Paradise books!"

Kakashi looked horrified. "You wouldn't!"

Naruto had an evil glint in his eyes. "Even if my sensei writes them, I'll still be happy to destroy them!"

"NOOOOO! You won't get your hands on my precious!" Kakashi yelled as he ran at his full ninja speed straight off the bridge.

Naruto stopped were he was seeing as he couldn't keep up right now. He along with everyone else had sweat dropped.

'My precious?' Was the common thought. 'Weird…'

Two weeks later the bridge was complete and everyone from town was standing in front of it with the ninja from Konoha in front of them.

"I still don't know were you went for two days Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled at him.

Said man just rubbed his neck while his other rubbed his pouch. "I got lost on the road of life." Everyone their sweat dropped.

"Liar!" Sakura yelled making some peoples ears ring.

"Can you please keep it down pinky; you might make some people death with that voice of yours." Sai said while he was rubbing his ears along with Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruto.

"I am not loud!" She yelled just as loud again.

"Before any of us go deaf, we should probably be leaving." Kakashi said, only to receive a death glare from Sakura.

Tazuna stepped forward. "Thank you so much again guys. You have no idea how much you helped us out here. There is no way we can ever repay you."

"Well, you could always pay for the A-rank mission when you get the money." Kakashi said half heartedly again.

The old man chuckled. "I suppose we could."

Then Inari moved to the front and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-oniisan, will you ever come visit?"

Naruto looked down at him and smiled. "You can count on it Inari!" He said giving him the thumbs up.

Inari started to tear up and tried to hide it. Naruto just smiled at him. "It's ok to cry when you're happy Inari."

"I'm not crying!" He said heatedly but you could tell he was. "I'll be strong like you are! I'll make my dad proud!"

Naruto just smiled at him. "I'm sure you will Inari."

With that they said their final partings, turned around and walked across the bridge waving good bye. They were the very first people to cross the new bridge.

Back with the villagers, Tazuna stopped waving. "We still haven't named the bridge yet!"

"Your right!" Some in the crowd said.

"What should we name it?" Another asked.

"How about the Super Tazuna Bridge!" Tazuna said only to get hit over the head by his daughter.

"Get over your self!" She said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hehehe, sorry." He said rubbing his head.

Their was a few other names tossed around until Inari spoke up. "Why not call it the Great Naruto Bridge!"

There was silence for a few seconds until they all cheered in agreement. "Then the name of the bridge will be 'The Great Naruto Bridge' named after Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto for saving this country from Gato, saving Tsunami, and helping Inari grow strong!" There was another cheer for the name of the bridge after he said that.

With the others, it had been a couple of hours and they were nearing the border of water and fire when suddenly Zabuza and Haku appeared in front of them. The others stopped what they were talking about and got ready for anything.

Naruto stepped forward. "I see you two healed well."

"As did you Naruto." Zabuza said in return. After a few seconds of awkward silence he addressed the issue for their meeting. "Does that offer of yours still stand?"

"Hai, it does, are you planning to join Konoha as a leaf ninja Zabuza-san, Haku-san?" Naruto asked while raising his eyebrow.

"Hai." Was his short reply.

Naruto looked over at Haku. "And you Haku-san?"

"I will join also Naruto-k-san!" She said catching herself and blushing in embarrassment. Zabuza grinned at her as did Kakashi with Naruto.

Kakashi stepped forward then. "Well since we're all heading the same way, let's go."

Zabuza and Kakashi walked beside each other, while the genin stuck together, and Naruto and Haku talked to each other.

After a while Kakashi and Zabuza moved back and stepped beside Naruto and Haku, so that Kakashi was beside Naruto, and Zabuza beside Haku.

Kakashi started off. "So you two, what you talking about?"

Naruto looked at him weirdly and shrugged. "Nothing much, why?"

"Oh no reason, just wanted to know…" He trailed off here. Naruto and Haku looked at them questionably.

Then Zabuza spoke. "He wanted to know if you two were boyfriend and girlfriend yet?" He asked bluntly. He got the result he wanted. Naruto and Haku both turned red and turned to each other and it only made it worse.

Naruto spun on Kakashi. "You're books are mine!" He yelled as he pulled out a kunai. Kakashi's eyes widened so much that they looked like they would pop out.

He ran away screaming, "You'll never hurt my precious!"

Haku spun on Zabuza and smiled sweetly at him. "Zabuza…" Zabuza paled seeing that face. 'Shit! She only smiles like that when she wants to kill me in the most excruciating ways!' He thought as he started to sweat a little.

"Y-yes?"

"Can you hold still for a second?" She pulled out one of her senbon needles and stepped forward with that sweet smile of hers still on her face. All color in Zabuza's face was gone by now. He did the smart thing…

… He ran like a girl.

Haku ran after him saying things like it wouldn't hurt and she only wanted to see if he was ok.

"There suppose to be elite Jounin too." Choji said to the others seeing the looks on their faces.

The others in the group sweat dropped at this and ran after there sensei's and their two additional members back to Konoha.

A day later they arrived back at the village thanks to running full speed most of the way thanks to Kakashi and Zabuza running for their lives.

When they reached the gates they were stopped and asked for identification.

"Namikaze Naruto returning with my team from our mission." He stated nonchalantly.

Kakashi mirrored him. "Hatake Kakashi returning with my team from a C turned A-ranked mission." He also said in his usual tone of voice.

The two guards could only nod there heads at first. They were surprised that genin survived an A-ranked mission even if they had two of the best Jounins in Konoha with them. Then they noticed the other two people that weren't on the teams. They looked at them questionably before they asked who they were.

"And these two?" They pointed to Haku and Zabuza.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh my bad, well these two are Momochi Zabuza and this is Haku. They will be accompanying us to see the Hokage."

One guard looked them over and then nodded. "Very well, Hokage-sama has been a bit confused as to the delays in your mission anyways."

Naruto and Kakashi nodded and turned to their own teams once inside the gates of Konoha.

"Alright guys." Naruto started, "Now that we have returned from an A-ranked mission, you will have some time off to recuperate. I will give you guys two days of free time. On the third day I want you to show up at training field nineteen at seven in the morning. If our late I will double all of your weights."

Each person of team ten had the same thought. 'Noooooooo! Not more weight!' Naruto just turned and walked away leaving his students in a vision of painful training. If one could see Naruto's face right now they would see an evil grin on his face and a devilish spark in his eyes.

Unfortunately Zabuza saw a side glance at it and unconsciously shivered. 'Note to self, never piss him of too much…that look is like Haku when she does that sweet smile.' This thought brought another shiver to him.

Kakashi just walked up to his team and looked down on them. "You have the next two days off to relax, be at training field seven at seven in the morning." With that Kakashi turned around and walked beside Naruto, Zabuza, and Haku as they made there way to the Hokage's tower.

Team ten finally got out of the horror induced by their sensei's threat and each went there own ways. Team seven also split up with Sakura following Sasuke like she normally would.

Sai he made a smart ass comment to Sakura as she walked away. "Hey pinky, why do you follow dickless if he doesn't even like you?"

When Sakura heard the nickname pinky she stopped in her tracks. Then when she heard her Sasuke-kun being called dickless she turned around with flames in her eyes.

"Sasuke-kun is not dickless!" She yelled at him as she hit him over the head sending him to the ground and leaving a dent there. She spun around to go follow Sasuke again when she noticed that he was no were in sight.

"No Sasuke-kun, wait up!" She yelled to the road as she ran down it to find her Sasuke-kun.

When all of this was going on, the Jounin of the group were long gone. They witness none of it. While they walked down the road people greeted them happily and sincerely. Haku and Zabuza were confused by this some what so they decided to ask as was their usual polite custom.

Yeah, right, Zabuza has about as much tact as a tack hammer…actually, he probably has less, so he just spit out the question on his mind. "What's with all the stares and greeting you two are getting, you two famous here or what?"

Kakashi looked at him and then looked at the front again before answering. "It's not me there greeting really. I just happen to be by the one they are."

"Oh and pray tell me who this is?" He asked in a very sarcastic tone.

Kakashi just eye smiled at him. "Nope."

Zabuza's vein on his head started to throb. "What the hell do you mean no!"

Kakashi just chuckled lightly. Just when Zabuza was about to nail him in the head Naruto spoke up. "They're looking at me, Zabuza."

Said man just arched an eyebrow at him. Seeing his look Naruto decided to explain. "I'm the son of the great forth Hokage, the man that saved the village from destruction. They treat me like this because of him and my mom. They treat me like royalty." Naruto's voice was very irritated.

Zabuza arched an eye brow again at the kid. "And this is a bad thing why?" Haku was equally confused.

Naruto debated to tell them or not and after a full minute of silence and walking he did. "How would you feel Zabuza if you were treated like royalty for something you had nothing to do with?"

"Myself, I'd go with it." He said nonchalantly.

Naruto shook his head. "You might but I don't want it. I want to be recognized for my own accomplishments not for what my father did. I want them to like me because of me not because of my family. Every one of these people knows virtually nothing about me, and yet they act like my friends. I just want to be treated normally like everyone else is."

The other just stayed silent after he said this. How could you really respond to something like that anyways? Before they knew it, they were at the Hokages tower waiting to be called into the office to speak to the Third.

After five minutes of waiting and seeing some one walk out of the office they were ushered in. They each stood in front of the desk of the third and Kakashi spoke first.

"Returning form a C-ranked turned A-ranked mission Hokage-sama." Kakashi said in an official voice.

The Hokage was slightly startled by this. "Is everyone ok Kakashi?"

"Hai Hokage-sama. We all returned mostly unharmed. The worst injuries were just some deep cuts."

The Hokage nodded his head. "I'm glad to hear that you and your teams are alright Kakashi. I assume that your team, Naruto, is alright also."

"Hai Hokage-same, like Kakashi my team came out with only minor wounds."

"Glad to hear it. Now, can you explain why you thought it wise to bring an A-class missing nin here?" Sarutobi gave them both a critical look that made the two stand up straighter than before under his gaze.

"These two are Momochi Zabuza and Haku. They wish to join Konoha as ninjas of our forces." Naruto said in a very stern voice.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at Naruto before leaning back into his chair. "Haku I have no problem with but you Zabuza I can't let join our forces." Both Haku and Zabuza tensed getting ready to leave at a moments notice.

"But…" The two looked at the old man sitting in his chair. "If you tell me about your mission first I might be able to allow things to slide." Sarutobi then turned his look to Naruto and Kakashi. Naruto decided to step forward and tell the tale of there mission.

Twenty minutes later he was done telling him his report. Sarutobi leaned back in his chair again and took a puff of his tobacco pipe.

"I still stand on my verdict as before. Haku can stay because she has no alliances with any nation and Konoha would gladly invite her bloodline, but Zabuza was a ninja of mist. I can not just let him join our forces with out mist getting in our faces and then possibly starting a war." He said grimly.

Zabuza and Haku looked ready to jump out the window when the third continued. "Although, if for say, Kakashi killed you, lets say using his Raikiri and stabbed you threw the heart effectively killing you when you were being restrained by his Nin dogs, then we wouldn't have a problem would we?" The old man was smirking wildly.

The smirk seemed contagious because everyone in the room had one on there faces. "I like the way you think old timer." Zabuza said still smirking. His smirk turned to a rapid apology when he saw the look Sarutobi was giving him. "I-I mean Hokage-sama!"

The third just smirked again and then waved it off. "Now that you two are going to be Konoha Nin we will have to see what rank you will get. Naruto, Kakashi, what do you thing there skills would put them at?"

Naruto and Kakashi looked at each other and then at the Hokage and at the same time said one word. "Jounin."

The third just nodded and pushed a button on his intercom. "Mai-san, can you get me two Konoha head bands and two Jounin jackets and bring them to my office please."

There was a second pause before she responded. "Hai Hokage-sama."

"Now those vests will be here in a few minutes. In the mean time we have to discuss a few other things. Since you did interfere in a mission against Konoha and attacked two Jounin of our village you will have to be punished. So for the next two weeks the both of you will to do D-ranked mission."

Zabuza looked ready to yell at the man when the door opened and in came the secretary with the two vest and the head bands. Haku and Zabuza look them of the desk after Sarutobi nodded to them to do so and put them on. Haku put her head band on and put it on her forehead and Zabuza did the same except his was slanted instead. They each put their Jounin vest on and left them unzipped for now.

There was a cough from in front of them and they all turned to see what Sarutobi wanted. "Now that I got your attention back, I will finish this meeting so I can get back to work." Here everyone in the room could have sworn they heard a whisper of _'evil' _muttered but they shrugged it off as nothing.

"For the time being, you two will live in an apartment building until you can find a different place to stay at or stay there." He opened a drawer and pulled out a wad of cash. "This is for the two of you to share. I don't know if you will live in separate apartments or not, but that will be enough for the both of you to pay rent for two weeks either way."

"Thanks you Hokage-sama for all of this." Haku said with a truly thankful look on her face.

"Ya, we appreciate it." Zabuza said in a matter of fact way. He got hit in the ribs by Haku for being disrespectful. He glared down at her but she just looked away.

'Stupid brat.' He thought.

Sarutobi just smiled at them. "If there is nothing else you may leave. Naruto and Kakashi I expect a report on my desk in two days and don't forget to _'fix'_ some parts of it."

"Not a problem Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied as he poofed out of the office.

Naruto replied with a simple, "Hai Hokage-sama." He then turned to the other two in the room. "Come on you two, I'll show you around Konoha now."

With that they walked out of the office leaving the old man to his work.

The said man looked down at his desk and his eyes widened in surprise and fear. "How in the nine layers of hell did the paperwork grow?!" He half yelled, half cried.

Then he remembered something from fifteen minutes ago…

The door opened up and in walked a young woman of about twenty five years of age. "You asked for two Jounin vests and two Konoha head protectors, right Hokage-sama?" She asked as she carried in the said items.

She walked over to the desk and put them down with a stack of papers a foot and a half tall under them. While she bent down her breasts giggled and it caught Sarutobi's eyes. He watched them for a few seconds until she stood back up.

"Will that be all Hokage-sama?" She asked sweetly.

Shaking his head in a barely noticeable manor to clear his head he responded. "Yes, thanks Mai-san." She bowed once and then left the room.

Shaking his head he cleared his thoughts and came to the present…

'Noooooooo! I'm becoming more like Jiraiya! Damn you and you wonderful books.' He thought on the inside.

Then he looked at the stack of papers. "Your evil you know that. I hate you." Of course the papers just sat there innocently.

"Don't mock me!" With that he grabbed one and started to read through it.

Author Notes…

Well there's the chapter. I have lots to say, so here goes nothing.

I think I am making the third look a little crazy, but whatever, it is just so funny to mess with the guy and I can't help it.

I would like to make the Haku, Naruto fight clear also. Haku only created two mirrors at the end of the fight because she is smarter than in the manga and it would only waste chakra. She also had no ideas of playing around with the enemy. She took one play attack so Naruto could see her power before the end, even then it still hurt him and then went for the kill or knock out. She didn't play with her enemy like in the manga; she was being a real shinobi and acting like it. Two mirrors was enough to do that with.

Shunpo: It is NOT his bloodline limit. He made it to look like it and it is rather weak right now and will stay that way for some time. It is nothing more than the Shunpo in Bleach, but it is weaker. He can only get so far with it and he can only step forward with it. He can't use jutsu when using it either, other wise they malfunction and are way too weak and it is just a waste of chakra. Right now it wears him out tons, and he can only go a small distance of ten feet per step. It will get better and easier later on in the story, but I want this to be a super hard technique and it can't just be mastered like that. It also can't be copied by the Sharingan either.

Another thing I would like to say is thanks for all the reviews I have been getting. You know who you are.

Also I have added a LOT more to my profile and if you are interested go and read it. I talk about my interest in Naruto and every rant I have said. They are my opinions on how things are and how things should be in the manga of the Naruto series. It is also what I like and don't like. I also talk about my other stories I will eventually write if I ever get the time and the effort into them. I also tell about my own C2 that I just made and what is in it and how it works. I suggest you check that C2 out because there are over 400 stories on their and I'm sure you could find things you love. There is a story in their for every idea out there.

The last thing I want to say is about the Chunnin exams. I have read many stories and they often repeat themselves over and over again. My Chunnin exams will be different. I will show very little of the first exam, none but Naruto's team telling him about the second exam, and how they do in it. I will show the prelim fights and how they go. They will not be the fight in the manga. I promise you that. They will all almost be different. There will also be a surprise before the prelim fights happen that you will have to wait and see what happens. After the prelims, I will go to the month training, although I might make it two months for my plans to sound more real. I will show very little of the team training but I will focus more on Naruto during that time. There will also me some good getting to know Haku better during that time. Hehehehehehe…

Well that is all I really wanted to say. Like always REVIEW, and I will answer all questions that you have in a reply or PM, just let me know.

"We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it."

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."

"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."

"It is a blessing to die for a cause, because you can so easily die for nothing."

I hope you liked the chapter! Review…

Battousai222


	10. Meetings, Tests, and Bets

Sorry for the long wait my faithful readers. A lot of things have come up. But before I tell you what I have this to say.

Now the reason this chapter was so late. The first week I just didn't feel like writing anything. Then the second and third week I was playing a new video game instead or reading and writing. Then the week after that, I went camping/ skiing/ swimming. There was no electricity so that means no computer. When I came back I had 30 some alert updates for stories that I love to read. So I read those. Don't forget I work about 35 hours a week also. That takes up a huge amount of time. Then, finally I got to write this chapter. I'm actually surprised I was able to finish it so quickly actually.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Meetings, Tests, and Bets

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" (Grand Fire Ball)

"Doton: Doryuheki!" (Earth Wall) A figure in a Jounin vest jumped into the air and put his hands up to his mouth and blew out a fire ball that was at least five feet wide. The other figure was on the ground and put his hands on the ground and a wall of earth came up and blocked the fire heading at him.

The person who was breathing fire saw this and put more force into the attack. The results were spectacular, the fire that was once five feet wide grew in intensity and started to melt the very earth and turned it into molten lava.

"Tsuga." (Piercing Fang) Naruto hears the whisper on his right side. Just then a tornado came at him and he was forced to jump to the side and cancel his attack. He jumped up into the trees and had to jump again to avoid the tornado that was following him. When the tornado hit the tree it broke right through the tree branch like it was nothing.

Naruto did a back flip off the tree to avoid Kiba's attack and grinned. "You guys are going to have to do better than this to get me." When he landed he had to immediately jump again because of a shadow coming for him on the ground. He jumped forward right over the shadow and right up to Shikamaru, who was in the middle of the clearing they were in.

"Never leave yourself open Shikamaru." He went to punch him when he saw him smirk and his eyes widened. He just barely dodged two kunai that came from his left. Landing again he turned and saw it was a shadow clone of Shikamaru.

'Damn, they're getting better.' He thought to himself. He took out one of his own kunai and sent it at the still prone form of Shikamaru, effectively canceling the shadow that was coming at him. Then he went over towards the clone and got right up to its face before it could react and sent it back, hitting a tree with a well placed fist to the stomach. The clone poofed out of existence.

Then, a giant ball came out of the trees and he jumped straight up dodging it. Kiba saw his chance and threw some kunai at him while he was still in the air. They hit right on, but then his target turned into a log.

'Shit! Kawarimi. (Replacement)' He thought while looking around himself. "Akamaru, can you find him?" The dog took some whiffs of the air and then started to growl. Kiba's eyes widened and he turned sharply only to get hit in the gut and keel over and land on his knees gasping for breath.

Akamaru, seeing his master down lunged at the Naruto that was still standing there; he too was hit in the side with a fist for his efforts and landed right beside Kiba on the ground. Naruto looked up and saw a twisting mass of air heading right for him. He made some seals faster than the genin could follow and trust out his right palm at the incoming attack.

"Futon: Daitoppa." (Great Breakthrough) The result was a giant wind came up and collided with the mass of air coming at him. The two collided and they exploded, sending wind and dirt everywhere at once.

Naruto grinned. "Not bad guys, not bad at all, but you have yet to hit me or put a scratch on me yet."

Naruto then turned and looked right at Shikamaru and Choji, who were standing right in front of him. "Man what a drag." Shikamaru said while not letting his gaze go off Naruto.

Choji did like wise. "Come on Shikamaru, we have to at least get a scratch on him or else he will make do on his threat." Shikamaru, who was acting lazy instantly, got serious. They all heard a groan behind Naruto, who turned his head slightly.

"Morning sunshine, good nap?" He asked playfully. Kiba shook his head to get his bearings right and then growled.

"Asshole." Naruto just grinned at him foxily.

With that, all three of them got ready and even Naruto tensed up slightly. They all stared at each other and waited for someone to make the first move. Then the wind picked up and blew some leafs into the clearing. They flew in front of everyone's eyes and when they were gone, so was Naruto.

"Come on guys, you're supposed to keep an eye on your opponent." His voice was all around and they couldn't find where he was hiding at.

'I'll have to thank Zabuza for teaching me the voice projection jutsu latter.' Naruto mused to himself. Then he jumped forward to avoid twenty shuriken and kunai from behind.

'What! When did they get behind me?!' Naruto though as he landed in the clearing where the genin were. While he was in the air, he made a cross hand seal and five copies of himself popped up beside him and the instant they landed they ran into the woods. Three seconds later they all dispelled, telling him they were shadow clones of Choji.

During those three seconds though, he had to avoid an air blast courtesy of Shikamaru, a tornado from Kiba, and a rolling ball that was Choji. Thinking fast after the information was given to him, he took a step forward and disappeared to the genin's eyes in a burst of speed, only to reappear a few feet in front of were he was before, which happened to be right in front of Choji.

With fast moving limbs, he hit Choji in the gut and then side stepped to avoid a kunai aimed at the chest from Shikamaru and ran at him while avoiding all the weapons and got in front of him a second later, delivering an identical strike.

Then he turned to Kiba, who had a hand full of kunai in his hands. Kiba let them all fly at him and Naruto just stood there. When they were five feet in front of him he grabbed one of his own kunai from his pouch and deflected four of them and the others he dodged, or let them fly by.

Kiba had a look of astonishment on his face, but then Naruto blurred out of existence and was in front of him. Kiba took an involuntary step back and Naruto push the butt end of a kunai into his gut. Kiba looked down and sighed.

"I forfeit." Kiba said and Naruto smiled before removing the kunai and walking over towards the two downed boys that were clutching there stomachs.

Naruto bent over Choji. "You alright?" Choji just nodded unable to speak. Naruto shook his head and stood up. "Damn, I did it again didn't I?" He asked them.

Kiba jumped up from were he was sitting and pointed and accusing finger at him. "We're only genin you prick! We can't beat you; you're a freakin' Jounin for Kami's sake!"

Naruto looked over at him and sighed. "Sorry guys, I guess it's another visit to the hospital." Shikamaru and Choji groaned and Kiba huffed. Sighing again Naruto bent down and picked up Choji and put him over his left shoulder and walked over towards Shikamaru and put him on his right. Naruto motioned for Kiba to get Akamaru and come over to him.

Once he was standing in front of him, Naruto put a hand on hit shoulder and they all disappeared in a swirl of leafs. They reappeared in front of the hospital and Kiba fell on his butt. "Damn, what the hell was that." He asked while he tried to suppress the urge to barf.

Naruto looked down at him and offered a hand which he took. "That was the shunshin no jutsu, it's a teleportation jutsu. You've actually been in it before but you were unconscious like these two here are." He gestured to Shikamaru and Choji. Kiba glared at him remembering the memory.

He looked down at the ground and mumbled. "Sadist."

"You say something Kiba?"

"No! I mean… lets just go inside already." He walked away and into the hospital leaving his sensei with his two friends behind. If he would have looked behind him he would have seen and heard Naruto mumble to himself.

"You'll thank me one day Kiba." With that he followed his student inside. When they got inside they got quite a few stares and shakes of the head from the staff. When they got to the front desk, the receptionist looked up and saw Naruto there.

"You're here again Naruto-san. Weren't you here a couple of weeks ago?" She asked while looking at him with a small blush.

Kiba 'humped' and that got the receptionist attention. "Our sensei is a freakin slave driver woman."

Naruto shook his head and looked at Kiba. "What have I told you about manners Kiba, especially when the person you're talking to you can kick you out of the hospital and not give you treatment that you and your dog need?"

Kiba just glared at him. "We wouldn't be here if you didn't make us like this!"

"It was training Kiba, if you take hits and get injured your body will harden and it also improves your reaction time. Besides, I had to see your guy's skill level to see about something coming up." Kiba looked interested but before he could ask, Naruto turned back to the receptionist.

"I need these three to get checked out and healed please. They only have minor injures though."

"Right, please go to room 301 and there will be a medical Nin that will come in and heal them soon."

"Thanks." Naruto replied while turning around and waving to her as he left with his back turned. When they got to the room they only had to wait for about half a minute until someone walked in. It was none other than Haku.

"Haku-san, how's working as a volunteer med nin been?" Naruto asked while she was startled at seeing them here.

Getting over her shook quickly she walked over to them. "It's been ok, Naruto-san, though I prefer my Jounin duties more. Remember this is just a part time thing I do."

"Yes I know, I was just wondering is all." Naruto said while looking at her uniform she was wearing. She had on a white nurse's coat on.

Haku caught him staring and started to blush, which Naruto also caught and looked away embarrassed. He spoke while not looking at her this time. "R-right, we came here to get these three healed after I took it a little too far in training."

"R-right, I'll get right on that." So for the next ten minutes she worked on healing them while they made small talk.

"So… how's Zabuza doing on his own?" Naruto asked after a while.

Haku raised an eye brow but answered none the less. "He's fine, though he missed not being able to fight as often."

"I see, how have you been doing yourself Haku-san?" She faltered slightly in healing Choji's still unconscious form but got right back.

"I've been doing fine; I recently found a nice place that I just moved into last week. It's a lot nicer than my other place was."

"I'm glad to hear you guys are doing well." Haku blushed slightly but it was too small to notice with out being right in her face.

Another two minutes later she stepped back from Shikamaru. "Well that should do it, they're all healed, they just need to rest some more and they'll be fine."

"Thanks for healing them Haku-san, I really appreciate it." Naruto said with conviction in his voice.

She just waved him off. "It was no problem Naruto-san, but I better go, I have some more people to heal before I can go for today." Naruto said his good bye while thanking her again before she left.

He turned to his genin to see only Kiba was awake. He was giving him a lecherous grin. "What?"

His grin just grew. "You like her don't you?" Naruto blushed slightly.

"My personal life is none of your business Kiba."

Kiba just grinned more. "I knew it! You do like her!" He pointed an accusing finger at him and grinned more.

Naruto's eye started to twitch and before anyone knew what happened he moved faster than Kiba could see while making some seals. Kiba stepped back seeing him agitated but it was too late.

"Niju omori fuin." (Double Weight Seal) He tapped Kiba's weights and he hit the ground faster than Naruto moved.

"Bastard! Why'd you do that!?" Kiba yelled as he struggled to get up but failed every time he got more than an inch off the ground.

"That's what you get for trying to interfere with my personal life." Naruto crossed his arms and turned his back to him.

Kiba tried to move his hands and make the right seals but his hands felt like they weighted a ton. He couldn't even make the first seal before he screwed up. "I was only making a joke!"

Naruto turned back to him and sighed. He picked him up and the other two also. "Hay, what are you doing? Put me down!" Kiba yelled at him.

Naruto didn't even respond before they shunshined to the front desk, signed out, and shunshined out of there again. They arrived at the front of the Inuzuka clan house. Naruto dropped Kiba and bent down and made some seals again before touching his weights and then leaving before Kiba could get his bearings from so many shunshins. "I'll get you for this Naruto-teme!"

Next, Naruto dropped Choji and Shikamaru off at there respective homes before walking down the road towards the market distract, looking for a restaurant to eat at.

Just as he was about to enter a random restaurant he heard some shouts and people screaming at each other. 'Damn, I was hungry too…' With that thought Naruto turned away from the restaurant and headed over towards where he heard the screaming. Deciding to be elusive as to not get caught if he didn't have to, he jumped on a roof and made his way over there.

When he got there, he saw a boy in a black jumpsuit that made him look like a cat. He had face paint on and had a bundle on his back wrapped up in medical tape. 'Hmmm, a puppeteer…' He thought absentmindedly.

Then he looked at what he was holding in the air. 'Konohamaru, what have you gotten yourself into this time?' Then he looked behind the cat boy and saw a girl standing there with a fan strapped to her back. 'Well, a wind user, don't see many of them around.' She had blond hair and had her hair in four pigtails in the back.

Then he saw the girl that he recognized from Kakashi's team. 'Sakura.' Then he looked into the trees across from him and saw Sasuke Uchiha sitting on a branch watching everything.

After he figured out who everyone was, he listened to there conversation. "Let me go you big meanie!" Konohamaru yelled as he struggled to get free.

"Kankuro, stop this! We don't want to get into trouble. What if _'he'_ sees us?" The girl asked the now identified boy in a cat suit.

"I'm just teaching this boy a lesson Temari, relax; these weak Konoha ninja can't do a thing to us." Kankuro said as he raised his fist to hit the boy.

Naruto was ready to step in at any notice seeing that Sasuke and Sakura were doing nothing when he sensed another chakra signature pop up in the tree by Sasuke. He looked over and saw a red haired boy with the kanji for love on his forehead. He had a giant gourd on his back. He had his arms crossed and was watching everything.

'This boy, he is strong, he was able to hide his presence almost completely. His stealth skills border on low to mid Jounin level, impressive.' Naruto though but then took his eyes off him to see the Uchiha take a pebble and flick it at Kankuro. The rock hit him in the hand and makes him wince slightly and loosen his hold on Konohamaru enough for the child to kick and struggle free with a couple of seconds to spare and then he ran behind Sakura and to his two friends.

"Who the hell are you?" The cat man asked as he rubbed his hand and stared daggers at Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed in delight at seeing her hero. Said boy just ignored her and looked at the cat man.

"You should pick on someone your own size, not some little boy." He said.

"Why you…" With that he went to grab his wrapping on his back but his female companion stopped him.

"Kankuro, your not going to use 'that' are you." She asked startled.

Sasuke got ready to draw a kunai when the boy with red hair spoke up, spooking everyone with his sudden appearance.

"Kankuro stop." He spoke evenly with a monotone in his voice.

Kankuro stopped in his tracks and started to shake slightly and looked up into the trees. "G-Garra."

'He was able to sneak up right beside me without me knowing.' Sasuke thought while looking at him.

"You're an embarrassment to our village." He said in a cold voice this time.

"G-Garra t-they started it. I was just…" He didn't get to finish because a strong killing intent hit him dead on and everyone else in the area.

"I don't care about your excuses, if you continue to act stupid I will kill you myself." His voice sent a shiver down everyone's backs.

"Y-yes Gaara." The boy backed away in fear. Then the red head, now known as Gaara, used shunshin with sand to teleport down to the ground.

The sand swirled around him from out of no where and covered him completely blocking everyone's view of him for a second. When it came down he was gone. Then sand started to swirl at the ground in-between the two groups and Gaara was in the middle of it.

Sasuke jumped down also and landed by Sakura. "Who are you and why are you in this village?" He demanded to know.

Gaara just looked at him and turned around and started to walk away. Sasuke became angry at being ignored and threw a kunai at him that would have hit if a wall of sand did not come up and stop it in mid air. Having done its job the sand went back into the gourd on his back and the kunai fell to the ground.

The red head turned around and looked at the Uchiha calmly betraying no emotions. "Why did you attack me?" He asked in a cold voice.

Sasuke just grunted and said, "I asked you a question first, why are you foreigners in this village?"

Temari stepped up and spoke to them. "We're here for the chunnin exams idiot."

"Don't call Sasuke-kun an idiot!" Sakura yelled at her only to get a glance at and then ignored.

"I don't answer to weak people." With that more sand poured out of his gourd on his back and Sasuke got into a defensive stance and Sakura and the kids backed away in fright. Then a kunai came out of no where and impaled itself into the ground between them.

Everyone looked to where it came from and saw that it was Naruto that did it. "There will be no fighting in this village. Are you guys trying to start a war!? Lay down your weapons!"

Sasuke looked pissed but did as asked, Sakura looked relieved for the help, Konohamaru and his two friends looked ecstatic. Konohamaru even shouted to his friend. "Naruto-oniisan." (Big brother)

Naruto looked down at him and smiled at him. "You ok there Konohamaru?" The kids replied happily that there role model was here to save them. Naruto turned back to Gaara though and had on a serious look on his face while he jumped down to the ground and picked up his kunai.

"Put the sand away genin." He said sternly. He didn't even bat an eyelash or blink at him. He just stood there with his arms crossed.

"And why should I listen to you?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "You're in our village and you will obey our rules, or you can get out or be killed. I'm a Jounin and will use force if you do not comply."

The boy just looked at him impassively for a few more seconds before his sand started to retract. During that time he was releasing all of his killing intent on Naruto, but Naruto just stood there unaffected at all. Finally the sand was completely in his gourd and he turned and walked away with his teammates following quickly behind him.

Naruto watched them walk away and thought to himself. 'The Gaara guy, what was with his chakra? I sensed some weird spikes in it…' he shook his head to clear it of those thoughts as he felt a tug at his pant legs. He looked down slightly and saw it was Konohamaru.

"That was so cool Naruto-oniisan!" He exclaimed as he grinned at his older friend and role model. Naruto looked at him and grinned also.

Later that day, Naruto was at his home reading up on some scrolls on some futon jutsu he wanted to learn when there was a knock at his door.

"Damn…" He said to no one in particular and got up and went to the door. He opened it up to see an ANBU standing there waiting for him.

"Can I help you Naomi-chan?" He asked when he recognized who it was even though she had a mask on. She was one of his subordinates when he was the captain of his division.

"No Naruto-taichou. (Captain) I just came to inform you that the Hokage has called a meeting for all Chunnin and Jounin level ninja. I was asked to come get you." She answered as she nodded to him.

Naruto smiled at her. "Thank you Naomi-chan, would you like to come inside to get something to eat or drink?"

She smiled back at him, but he couldn't see it because of the ANBU mask. "Thank you but, I'm still on active duty right now."

Naruto put on a pout face but sighed. "Alright, but feel free to come by when ever you want, ok."

"Thanks for the invite Naruto-taichou; I'll keep that in mind, good bye." With that, she poofed out of the front door to Kami-sama knows where.

Sighing, he went back inside and put on his Jounin vest and disappeared in a pillar of flames.

Not five seconds later, in the prestigious Hokage's office, the flame shunshin shot up from the floor and show Naruto standing there. He looked around and saw that there were a lot of other Jounins and some Chunnin level ninjas in the office with him. As usual when Naruto used one of his patented teleportation's, all eyes were focused on him.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a small wave. "Yo." That seemed to make everyone forget about him and go back to there own conversations. Naruto then sighed in relief before he grimaced hearing a certain person.

"YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT AS EVER NARTUO-KUN! YOSH!" This person had huge eyebrows and the ugliest green spandex you could have ever seen.

Naruto turned to him and saw that Gai was standing by Kakashi, Asuma-sensei, and Kurenai. Then he felt every eye on him again and he sweat dropped before making his way over to his group of friends that he knew.

Once over there, he looked slightly up towards them because he was still the shortest of them all. "Soooo, any of you know why we were all called here?"

Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma all sweat dropped and gave him a dead pan look. Gai being oblivious to this all gave Naruto the nice guy pose before explaining. "YOSH! We are here to decide who goes to the chunnin exams!"

Naruto had a look of understanding on his face before he scratched the back of his head. "Yaaaaa, I completely forgot about that." He chuckled nervously. 'I'll have to thank Naomi-chan for coming and getting me later.' He thought continuing to chuckle.

The others just shook they're heads while Gai ranted about something that they all ignored. They all made idle chit chat while waiting for the meeting to begin. Five minutes later the door opened and the old man Hokage came walking into the room. He sat at a big desk put there for the meeting and then lit his pipe before looking at everyone present.

"Is everyone present?" He asked loud enough so everyone could here. No one spoke up but he did notice that Naruto was elbowed by Asuma. He ignored it and started the meeting.

"I have called this meeting to discuss the participants who will be entered into the chunnin exams this year. If you believe your students to be ready, please step forward and state your name and who is in your team."

There were was a group of twelve people, but what surprised everyone in the assembled people was the three people in that twelve. Specifically the three new sensei's of rookie genin, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Naruto. Murmurs started to go around, but the Sandaime just raised his hand for it to be quiet, to which everyone complied.

"Now, let's start from the left to the right." The Hokage ordered and everyone went through there names of their teams and who they were until it was Gai's turn.

"I Maito Gai, Jounin sensei of team nine, nominate Hirigashi Tenten, Hyuuga Neji, and Rock Lee to participate in this year Chunnin exams." With that, he stepped back and Kakashi stepped forward next.

"I Hatake Kakashi, Jounin sensei of team seven, nominate Sai, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke to participate in this year Chunnin exams." Next came Naruto.

"I Namikaze Naruto, Jounin sensei of team ten, nominate Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji to participate in this year Chunnin exams." Then he stepped back for Kurenai to be the last to speak.

"I Yuhi Kurenai, Jounin sensei to team eight, nominate Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino to participate in this year Chunnin exams." After she stepped back everyone that was there was whispering to each other.

Things were said about there not being a rookie genin in the Chunnin exams for ten years now and the conversation got out of control, after a while Iruka stepped forward and the Hokage asked for silence.

When Iruka spoke up everyone turned to him. "You guys can't be serious, they're rookies! It's too early to let them participate in the Chunnin exams."

"I agree with Iruka." Gai said in a serious voice that got everyone's attention. "You should wait a year like I did with my students. The Chunnin exams are not a game and you should give them time to get more experience." Some people agreed with him but Kakashi turned to him.

"No." Kakashi started "They are my students and I think they are ready for it." He said in a calm voice.

"They were my students before yours Kakashi! I know they're strong but the Chunnin exams break people! They're not you and Naruto, you guys were prodigies." Iruka tried to reason with him.

Naruto turned to him. "That may be so Iruka, but I know my students and if I think they are ready for it, then they are."

Iruka looked ready to argue some more but a death glare from Kakashi stopped him. "They are my students Iruka, not yours anymore. I know them better than you do now and if we as their teachers think they are ready for this, you can't over-rule us!" His voice had an edge to it that made some people back off.

"Enough!" The Hokage said in a stern voice that stopped all talking in the room. "There will be no more arguing like children. Iruka, Kakashi and Naruto are right. They are their students now and not yours, they know them the best and if they think they are ready, then so be it."

Everyone in the room was silent and the Hokage rubbed his temple already foreseeing a headache forming. "If there are no other issues concerning who will be participating in the exams, then we will now discuss what the exams will be."

An hour later everyone was out of the office and it was only Naruto and the Hokage left. The Hokage saw him and sighed. "What can I do for you Naruto-kun?"

"Nothing Oji-san, I just wanted to let you in on a little secret that will make your life easier." He had a devilish smirk on his face.

Seeing the look the Hokage was interested. "Oh, what do I need help in?"

The smirk on Naruto's face just grew bigger. "Oh, nothing much but a way to beat paperwork." He said off handedly.

The old mans eyes widened and he had a pleading look on his face. "What is it?! I'll do anything for you! Name your price!"

Naruto's grin turned into a smirk and then he couldn't hold it in any longer and started to laugh it up. The Hokage was slightly confused and irritated because he was laughing about such an important issue, or at least to him it was.

"Anything?" Naruto asked sweetly.

"Hai!" He replied right away.

Naruto lost it again and after a few seconds he was able to calm down. "Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face when I told you there was a way to beat paperwork."

The Hokages face was confused and then it went to furious in a split second. "Are you saying this was some kind of joke?" His tone was deadly.

Naruto stopped laughing immediately and straightened up. "Ah, no Hokage-sama, your face was just so funny."

The old man narrowed his eyes at Naruto and he held up his hands in defense. "Ok, ok, gosh, you don't need to be so serious about this."

He just got a glare for saying that. Seeing the old mans patience already gone Naruto told him really quickly. "The price is nothing Oji-san, think of it as a thank you for protecting and taking care of me all these years."

The old mans face softened and he had a hopeful look on his face now. "So you'll tell me?" He was almost pleading for the answer.

Naruto just grinned. "Ever thought of using Kage Bunshin?"

The Hokage's face was confused for a second until he got a look of understanding on his face. "Damn it! Why didn't I ever think of that?!" He slapped his head with his hand and shook it. "All this time wasted…"

Naruto just smiled at him. "Well think of this as thanks Oji-san, I'll see you around." With that, Naruto flame shunshined out of the office.

The Hokage looked at the stack of papers on his desk and glared at them. Then he looked over at the picture of the Yondaime and glared at him. "You knew this secret, didn't you?! This is how you always finished so fast." The picture seemed to laugh at him. "I hate you so much right now, you know that right?" It just laughed some more at him.

"Well guess what! Your son showed me how to beat this pure evil. Hehehehe, now to get to work, or should I say relax time."

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." With that three copies of himself appeared and pulled up some chairs and started to work on the paper work that he now has defeated.

"I have defeated you once and for all paperwork! Who gets the last laugh now? Mwah hahahahahaha!" With that declaration, he got up and headed home.

The Next day, at ten in the morning, team ten were waiting for there sensei to show up like usual. The only thing that was weird though was that he was late and he has never been late before.

"Man this is so troublesome, I could be watching clouds in a better place right now." Shikamaru whined as he stared though the trees at the sky.

Choji just ate some more food. "Come on Shikamaru, I'm sure he has a good reason for being an hour late."

"He better or I'm going to kick his ass!" Kiba said shaking a fist into the air.

Just as he lowered his fist to his side did the wind pick up and a small six foot tall tornado form in front of them and then lowered showing there late sensei.

"You better have a good reason for making us wait for an hour sensei!" Kiba yelled the second he noticed it was Naruto there.

"My bad Kiba, I was picking you guys up something." Was his coy response.

Shikamaru and everyone listened now. "We're listening…" Shikamaru said as he sat up.

"Well, I signed you guys up for the Chunnin exams; I was picking up the forms for you." He pulled out three pieces of paper and waved them in front of himself.

Kiba ran up to Naruto and tried to grab them but Naruto just spun around him. "Not yet Kiba, a little patience would be good." Kiba just grumbled and went back to stand by his friends. Naruto just gave them a grin.

"So, you think we're strong enough for the Chunnin exams sensei?" Choji asked. Shikamaru looked interested also.

"Hell yeah we are! We're the best team around; we'll kick everyone's ass in the exams." Kiba said enthusiastically.

Naruto just smirked at him while he went and sat against a tree across from the others. Seeing their sensei sit down the other members of the team did the same thing. Akamaru jumped on top of Kiba's head and sat quietly.

"Well, other people think you're not ready, but I think you are. If you work as a team and remember everything I have taught you, then you should at least be able to get to the second round. After that though, I don't know if you'll pass or not." Naruto gave them some information on the exams.

"What's involved in these exams Naruto-sensei?" Shikamaru asked interested.

"Hmmm, well the first test is always a written test, the second one I'm not allowed to say, and the last one is always a battle of some sort, where you go against other ninjas in a fight."

"I see… is there anything else you can tell us?" Choji asked this time.

Naruto adopted a thinking pose and the three genin in front of him leaned in to hear what he had to say better. "Nope." Naruto smiled at them and they all fell over.

"Why not!" Kiba yelled.

Naruto just smiled at them. "It's the rules Kiba, think of it as a mission, you don't always know what's going to be involved in the mission but you always have to be prepared for it."

"Fine." Kiba grumbled while he crossed his arms.

"Well…" Naruto started, "Since the exams start tomorrow, you can have the rest of today off. Be at the academy building room 301 tomorrow at nine in the morning and bring all your ninja gear, you'll need it." With that Naruto handed the pieces of paper to each of them and stood up.

"Oh, and one more thing, if you don't want to take this test you don't have to. You can take it as individuals also." With that Naruto walked away and jumped into the trees and took off.

The others just looked down at their respective forms and they each had their own thoughts on their mind. Shikamaru was thinking about what his mom would say if he passed and about getting stronger and getting her off his back for once. Choji was thinking about getting some respect if he passed this thing, and Kiba was thinking about all the people he could fight and beat.

Shikamaru was the first to get out of his thoughts and speak up. "So what you guys think about this?"

Kiba grinned that wolfish grin of his. "I'm taking it, I won't pass up the opportunity to fight some strong people and prove myself."

Choji just smiled at his friends. "I'm taking it so I can get some respect and show everyone how strong I really am."

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess I'll take it too, maybe if I become Chunnin my mom will stop nagging me all the time." Then he grinned. "I'm glad we're all taking it. If we stick together, we will dominate these tests, as a team."

Choji and Kiba both grinned back at him and Akamaru barked in response. "Together we will win!" Choji said confidently.

Kiba put in his two cents also. "No one can beat team ten, watch out Chunnin exams, were coming!"

Up in the trees, Naruto smiled at them and it turned into a full blown smirk. 'Yep, defiantly going to go far.' He thought before he turned around and left the seen of his team alone.

The next day found team ten walking to the academy and when they made it there, they checked the time and saw that they were forty-five minutes early. Nodding to each other they went up the stairs and went to room 301. When they got there, the whole team looked confused. They were at the door and there were two people blocking the doorway and a crowd of people in front of it. The two boys were stopping the other competitors from getting inside the building.

Choji leaned over to his other two team mates and whispered low enough for the others not to hear. "Isn't this the second floor, not the third?"

They both nodded and looked at the door. Shikamaru saw it first. "Genjutsu on the sign." He whispered to the others. Kiba grinned and stepped forward but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw it was Shikamaru and he was shaking his head no. Kiba gave him a confused look.

Seeing the confusion on his teammate's face, the Nara explained. "It's an unofficial test; this will keep all hopeless people out of the test that way there's less competitors for the real thing. Leave them alone, it will make less work for us later." Kiba and Choji just nodded and trusted Shikamaru's advice and moved past the door and continued down the hall to the stairs and to the real room 301. Once inside the room they felt a huge killing intent hit them but it was nothing compared to what they felt at the bridge in wave country, so they just brushed it off like nothing and walked over to the wall and sat down quietly.

"You guys see anybody we know?" Choji asked his teammates. Shikamaru shook his head negative but Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the air.

Akamaru barked and Kiba nodded to his companion. "Akamaru says team eight is over there." He pointed across the room and indeed, there they were, standing there doing nothing but looking at the competition. Kiba was going to get up and go talk to them but Shikamaru said no.

"Leave them for now, if something happens, then we will go talk to them, but for now leave them." Kiba wordlessly agreed with him and Choji did the same.

Half an hour later, team seven walked in and team eight went and talked to them. Kiba looked at Shikamaru and he said, "Leave them until later; we have to concentrate on this test right now." So they watched them interact, with Ino and Sakura fighting over who should have Sasuke and Sai was making some jokes that insulted them all. Some of them actually made team ten laugh, but they held it in for now, so not to draw attention.

Then, some guy went over and introduced himself as Kabuto; he offered to show the rookie teams some information on the exams. Shikamaru stood up and Kiba and Choji followed him. "Some more information could be helpful in this exam, let's go see what he has to say." The others nodded and they followed Shikamaru over to the small group. They stayed in the back as not to get noticed. The only one who actually did notice was Sai, and Shino. They both gave small nods in their direction, which they return respectively.

The Kabuto guy pulled the card containing all the information on the number of people in the exams and put it back into the deck before he spoke again. "I also have info on almost anyone here or in this village."

Sasuke perked up at that and stepped forward. "So you can give me info on certain people?" He asked.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and nodded. "Hai, is there some one you would like to know about?"

Sasuke smirked. "Hai, do you have info on Sabaku no Gaara, Rock Lee, and Namikaze Naruto?" At the name Namikaze everyone in the room turned their heads and stared at who said it.

Kabuto became nervous with everyone staring at him. "Why would you need to know anything about Namikaze Naruto? He's a Jounin already."

Kabuto wasn't the only one caught off guard though; it was also team ten, Shikamaru in particular. 'Why would he want to know anything about sensei?' He thought.

Kiba stepped forward and spoke to the group. "Yo, Sasuke, why would you need to know about Naruto-sensei?" That got some heads turning. That's also when team eight and seven noticed them.

"Hn, none of your business mutt." He said glaring slightly at him. Kiba went to punch him when Choji restrained him.

Sasuke turned back towards Kabuto and looked for his answers. Kabuto got the idea and took out three cards. "Let's see, first is Sabaku no Gaara. Teammates are Sabaku no Kankuro, Sabaku no Temari, and Jounin sensei is Baki. He's taken 4 D-rank missions, 3 C-rank, 1 B-rank, and wow… 1 A-rank mission. It doesn't say anything about his skills, but he's come back from every mission without a scratch on him."

Some people in the room looked surprised and some looked scared. Kabuto ignored all of them and continued. "Next we have Rock Lee. Teammates are Hyuuga Neji, and Hirigashi Tenten, and Jounin sensei Maito Gai. He's taken 12 D-rank missions, and 38 C-rank missions. His Genjutsu and Ninjutsu are nonexistent meaning he doesn't use them, but his Taijutsu is off the charts, his taijutsu is easily mid to high Chunnin level."

Kabuto continued on ignoring everyone. "Finally we have Namikaze Naruto. His full name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto; he is the Jounin sensei of team ten, which consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. He went to the academy at the age of five and graduated at the age of six, breaking the old record. Then at eight years old he made Chunnin and then ten he made Anbu, at eleven he made Anbu Captain. Then at age thirteen he retired as an Anbu captain and became an elite Jounin of Konoha. He has done 20 D-rank missions, 32 C-rank, 12 B-rank, 22 A-rank, and 18 S-rank. He has earned the nickname 'Shunshin no Namikaze' because almost every time he uses shunshin no jutsu he uses a unique one that he created himself, apparently there is one for every element. He has also created a few jutsu of his own, but his most famous one is called Kaizuki (Fire Blade) which is an S-rank jutsu that is supposedly just like the Raikiri that Hatake Kakashi created, except with fire instead of lightning."

Sasuke just scowled and turned away mumbling something under his breath. Shikamaru grabbed his teammates and led them back over to the wall they were at before and waited for the test to start. While waiting, Shikamaru was thinking. 'How did that Kabuto guy get so much information? He even knew how many missions each person has done, that should only be available to higher ups. I'll have to tell sensei about this, he will be able to clear things up better than me.'

"All right maggots, listen up! My names Morino Ibiki and I'm the first examiner. This is the first part of the Chunnin exams and I want no fighting back there, you sound genin, unless you want to be disqualified!" A guy in a black trench coat yelled at them. He was the examiner and there were at least twelve Chunnin behind him. Shikamaru looked over and saw that Kabuto was on the ground and the sound genin had done something to him. He must have really been in deep thought to miss that. 'I'll have to ask Kiba and Choji about it after this test.' He thought to himself.

"Grab yourselves a number from the front and sit in your seats maggots!" The guy with the black trench coat yelled.

In another location, there were five people sitting in a room in comfortably silence. They were all Jounin and they were in one of the many Jounin lounges in Konoha relaxing. These people were none other than Kakashi, Naruto, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai. They were having small talk when a new topic came up.

"So, do you think our genin will be able to pass the first test?" Kurenai asked them.

They all looked at her and Asuma answered her first. "That depends, who's the examiner this year?"

Kakashi chuckled and it wasn't a perverted one either seeing as his book wasn't out, so naturally, everyone turned to him. "Well the first test is the written test and this year the examiner is Ibiki."

Asuma coughed on some of the smoke he was smoking on and sputtered, causing Kurenai to become worried. "Who is this Ibiki, I've never heard of him?"

Naruto answered this time. "Ibiki is the head of the interrogation squad of Anbu."

Kurenai gasped. "He won't use torture will he?" She asked timidly and scared for her genin.

Naruto just chuckled. "No need to worry about their physical health Kurenai, he won't need that. Although you might have to worry about their mental health."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Naruto continued his explanation. "All Ibiki needs is to use words to make people crack under the pressure. He's an expert of the mind Kurenai."

Kakashi chuckled again. "Our genin are so screwed."

Naruto shook is head negative. "My genin will be fine, I've taught them not to give up and they will look at Shikamaru for help if they don't know the answer to something, plus Shikamaru will see right through the test no problem."

This time Gai stood up. "YOSH! Naruto's team is the epitome of youth! They will surely pass along with my team for sure!" Everyone just looked at him then turned back to each other again.

This time it was Kakashi's turn to arch an eye brow. "You seem pretty confident in your team passing the test, Naruto." He stated in a matter-of-factly manner. Naruto just shrugged in response.

Suddenly Kakashi got a shit eating grin on his face. "Since your so confident in your team, lets make a little bet."

This got everyone's interest; Naruto arched an eyebrow at him. "What kind of bet?"

Kakashi's visible eye twinkled. "Whose ever team gets to the tower in the second part of the exam first, wins. The loser's team has to pay the other person five-hundred yen."

While Naruto was sitting there and thinking about it the others were as well. "I'll take that bet." Kurenai said with a grin.

"YOSH! My team will show your teams there flames of youth by getting to the tower first!" Gai said as he agreed to the bet.

Everyone turned towards Naruto, he was still thinking. Asuma not wanting to be left out spoke. "I'll put my money on my student's team." The others looked at him and agreed with it.

They turned back to Naruto. "I'll agree to this bet, but I want to make it even more interesting with another bet."

Kakashi raised his single eye brow. "Alright, we're all in, with Asuma betting for Naruto's team, so what's this other bet you want to do?"

Naruto smirked. "I want to fight… you." This caught everyone by surprise.

"Why would you want to fight me?" Kakashi asked for once completely baffled.

"You were one of my dad's students right?" Naruto asked which he got a nod for an answer.

"Hai, you already knew that though…" Kakashi stated not knowing where he was going with this statement.

"Well people say you're a prodigy, like me, in the shinobi arts. You were trained by my dad, and I want to see how my skills measure up to your own to see how far I have come." Naruto stated confusing the others.

Kakashi squinted his eye. "So you want to fight me to measure your abilities, right?" He got a nod from Naruto so he continued. "And you want to fight _me,_ because I was your dad's student right?" Again another nod for an answer. "Ok, sure, so what are the terms and when and where do you want to do it?" He asked grinning beneath his mask. The other people in the room looked at each other and then listened intently to this one conversation.

Naruto grinned back. "Good, I'm glad you agreed to the fight. The fight will be in three days at the tower were the Chunnin exams are being held, that way we can get the money we bet at the same time for the other bet we made. The actual fight will be an all out fight with anything goes except killing. The bets are simple on my side; if I win you have to stop reading your 'Icha Icha Paradise' books for one month straight. If you win, I don't know, you can think of something I'm sure. These are my stipulations for the bet and fight, what will be the prize if you win Kakashi?" Naruto was grinning now and everyone looked at Kakashi for his answer.

The said man leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling in hard concentration. After a full two minutes he broke out into a grin that the ones who knew him could tell he was grinning, which included everyone in the room. That grin turned into a chastity cat grin, which turned into perverted giggling.

Finally he looked back down straight at Naruto and the said boy gulped. That look was evil. 'What have I done?' He thought, while the others couldn't agree with that mental thought more.

Kakashi gave one final giggle then with a perverted look in his eye he told them his idea. "Since your stakes are so high, I want two things, one is easy to get, at least for you it is, the other… well, I can't wait for your reaction." He gave a perverted giggled again.

Naruto just scowled at him. "Just tell me what your stipulations are Kakashi." He said wanting to get it over with.

Kakashi giggled again. "The first one is easy for you; I want a signed copy of the next 'Icha Icha Paradise' book that comes out from the author himself." He giggled again at that.

Naruto was actually taken aback by that one. "That's it! And here you had me all worried there. Fine, I can do that no problem. What's the other half?"

Kakashi got that evil look in his eye again and looked directly into Naruto's eyes. "I want you to ask Haku on a date." He said simply. He waited for Naruto's reaction and he didn't have to wait long.

Naruto turned red and started to blush profusely. "W-w-wh-a-at?" He asked in a shaky voice while stuttering. The other in the room looked at his reaction and then started to grin themselves; Kakashi actually had a good, not entirely perverted idea there.

Asuma got up and hit his former student in the arm playfully. "Why didn't you tell me you liked a girl Naruto?!" He was grinning like a chastity cat the whole time to.

Naruto looked up and just blush more. "I-I-I d-don't know what y-your talking about." Naruto said stuttering and looking anywhere but at them.

Kakashi leaned forward and looked at Naruto again. "So do you agree to those terms Naruto?" He grinned at him for good measure.

Naruto took some calming breaths and settled down again. He turned back to the others and looked at Kakashi; everyone noticed that he still had a small blush on his face. "I don't know why you want m-me-," They all grin at him at the stutter, but he ignores it and continues. "To ask Haku on a d-date, but I agree to those terms Kakashi."

Kakashi just grinned at him again. "Good." He turned to the other three in the room. "Do you guys want to make a bet on this thing?"

The others looked at each other and Asuma spoke first. "I'll bet one-thousand yen that Naruto wins, although I kind of want him to lose now, seeing as he has to go on a date with a girl." He said as he elbowed his former student in the ribs, who just scowled.

"I'll also bet one-thousand yen on Naruto winning also. I want to see you not read those books of yours for a month, though I do want to meet this girl of his." She said.

They looked at Gai for his bet. "I'll bet one-thousand yen on Naruto also, I CAN NOT HAVE MY ETERNAL RIVAL WINNING A BET! YOSH!" He agreed to the bet also.

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and the blush he knew was on his cheeks. "Alright, the bets are made. I can't wait to see who wins our fight, I look forward to it Kakashi."

The man grinned again. "Oh I look forward to the fight to, but I look even more forward for the book and the date you're going to go on." He said with a perverted giggle at the end.

Kurenai looked at Kakashi in disgust about the book comment, but then looked at Naruto. "So who's this girl you like Naruto-kun?" She asked purposely dragging out the kun suffix on purpose and making Naruto blush.

"Your flames of youth are growing stronger than ever Naruto! Let me help you with this girl you like so much!" Gai said for once not screaming it but just slightly louder than normal, but it still made Naruto look away embarrassed.

"Come on Naruto, who is this Haku girl you like? Have we met before?" Asuma asked grinning.

Kakashi giggled again, before he answered for the target of the conversation. "You've all met her. She has brown hair, brown eyes, and a great figure that already has the eyes of some people in the village from what I hear."

"What!" Naruto blurted out in anger before he realized what he had said, and tried to come up with something to cover himself but failed miserably.

Kakashi grinned. "She's the girl Naruto and I brought back three months ago from the wave mission."

Asuma looked deep in thought before he got an understanding look on his face, same went for Kurenai. "Hehehehe, you got quite the eye there Naruto, keep up the good work!"

Kurenai just shook her head at the two grown men torturing the boy. "Don't listen to them Naruto, she's a really nice girl and really strong too. You made a good decision to go for a girl like her; I hope it works for you."

All of this made Naruto blush and stammer more and more until the flush had become a permanent fixture. He was standing by now and just looked away. "I never said I liked her, guys." Although he said this, it had no conviction or force behind it.

Kakashi just grinned. "Sure Naruto, what ever you say." Naruto just scowled at them before teleporting out of the room, lightning covering him from view and then in a flash he was gone.

Kakashi and Asuma both burst out laughing at Naruto's expense.

Gai looked at them laughing. "YOUR UN-YOUTHFULNESS IS NOT HIP MY RIVAL KAKASHI!" Gai yelled at them.

That just made them laugh harder until they were holding there sides, Kurenai just shook her head at their antics. "Really you two, grow up and stop teasing Naruto about this." They just laughed harder, after a full minute of laughing; a vein appeared on her head. She stood up and slammed her fists into their heads making them both whimper at her wrath. "Grow up you two." With that she disappeared in a swirl of leafs.

After she was gone, they looked at each other again, and burst out laughing. Gai looked at them shaking his head. "Your actions are most un-youthful, Kakashi. Love is the most youthful thing there is and you are laughing about it." With that serious declaration made, he poofed out of the office in a cloud of smoke.

Both Kakashi and Asuma looked at each other having stopped laughing when they heard Gai being serious and then Asuma spoke up. "Did he just speak seriously about that?"

Kakashi looked equally as dumbstruck. "Yep." Was all he could say in response. Two seconds later they burst out laughing again.

Author Notes…

Well that's the chapter.

The chapter was pretty boring but I started on the relationship with Haku and Naruto sort of anyways. I had to write this to set things up for next chapter. Speaking of next chapter, it will have Kakashi's and Naruto's fight and the chunnin second exam and prelims over with by the end of it.

As always any questions will be answered to the best of my ability and I will be glad to answer them all.

Review…

Battousai222


	11. Blades of Fire and Lightning

It's been a while but that's life. This is my first chapter that passes the 10,000 word point. It is actually 11,000 words, so be happy. The chunnin exam second part is over with this. My last two chapters were 9,500 so be happy about that also.

Finally to what you guys want… the chapter…Enjoy!!!!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Blades of Fire and Lightning

Three days later, at the tower in the middle of the forest of death, there were many people gathered. Not only were there many genin that have passed the second test, but their were some Jounin and Chunnin and even the Hokage was there.

Kiba walked over towards Shikamaru with Choji right beside him. "Yo, Shikamaru, what's going on here? Why are all of these people here and what are they talking about?"

Shikamaru looked at his two friends and sighed. "It's too troublesome to explain right now." With that, he laid back down and looked at the ceiling longingly. 'Man I miss seeing the clouds.' He thought to himself, ignoring his teammate's dumbfounded looks.

Kiba looked ready to explode and Choji just looked confused. Before his friend could become lost it his thoughts Choji spoke up. "Can you tell us anyways Shikamaru?"

Sighing he sat up and leaned against the wall and looked at his two teammates before speaking. "Well, if you a have to know, then I'll tell you." Choji shook his head at his friend's antics and Kiba had an eyebrow that was staring to twitch.

Seeing there reactions he sighed again. "Supposedly Naruto-sensei and Hatake Kakashi will be having a full out fight in the arena down there some time today. Everyone is here because they want to see it. Both of them are famous and all that you know."

Kiba and Choji's reactions were very similar; they both had dumb founded looks. "So your say that Naruto-sensei will fight that Kakashi guy that came with us to the wave mission, right?" Kiba asked him.

Shikamaru only nodded. Kiba grinned wildly. "Hell ya! This is going to be so awesome. Two of the best Jounin in Konoha fighting right in front of us. This is going to make out fights look like nothing, I can't wait!" Luckily, or unluckily for him, everyone heard his loud voice and now everyone even the foreign shinobi were excited to see this fight.

Thirty minutes latter five people showed up at the same time by walking through the doors that lead to the arena. The first thing they noticed was that there were a lot of people there already. Naruto and Kakashi looked around and both saw there teams were in the room. There group of five consisted of Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and Naruto. They all walked over towards Anko and stopped in front of her.

Anko looked at them like everyone else in the room was. "So is this fight between Cyclops and Fox real or not?" She asked bluntly. Everyone was listening to the conversation intently and waiting for an answer.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "How'd all you guys find out?"

Anko scoffed at them. "You guys are morons to think that only you were going to use that Jounin lounge. Somebody heard you guys talking and heard of the fight. He told everyone in Konoha about it."

Kakashi lowered his shoulders and Naruto looked startled some what. "Did he hear or talk about the bets for the fight?" He asked quickly.

Anko gave him a quizzical look but shrugged. "No he didn't say anything about a bet, why?"

Naruto let out a sigh of relief and let his shoulders slump slightly. "Good."

Kakashi just giggled pervertedly. Naruto looked at him and glared at him when he saw him giggling. "Listen guys, I don't care about the one part of the bet being known, but if you talk about the other half you guys are dead." He gave them a very threatening glare that many have seen before there death was handed to them by his hands.

They nodded in consent and Kakashi just giggled some more. "Teme." Naruto whispered under his breath. Luckily no one heard him or they did and ignored it.

Shaking his head, Kakashi got to why they came over to Anko. "Anko, you're the examiner of the second round of the chunnin exams right?" She nodded waiting to see where this was going. "Who was the first team to make it to the tower?"

"Why do you want to know?" She asked while arching an eye brow.

Kurenai answered this time. "It's part of the bet that led up to the other bet regarding the fight, so please tell us."

Shrugging she pointed behind them to the sand siblings. They all looked over towards them. "It was the sand team. They got here in four hours from the start of the exam; beat your old one Naruto." She answered.

They all shook there head and turned back to Anko. "That's not what I was asking for, let me rephrase." Kakashi said. "Which of our four teams was the first one to get to the tower?"

Anko gave them a weird look and then pointed to team ten. They all looked and Naruto smirked at the others. "Hand over the money guys." They each took out there wallets and handed Naruto five-hundred yen each. After he got it he had fifteen hundred and he gave half to Asuma for he bet on his team also. "That will pay for a nice diner." He grinned again at the others glares.

Asuma just whistled innocently getting even more glares.

After some heated glares were exchanged, Naruto turned to Kakashi with a serious look in his eyes. "When do you want to do this Kakashi?"

Said man got serious too. "How about right now?" He asked to which he got a grin from Naruto. They turned to the arena and saw everyone was watching them with interest.

The Hokage, seeing that everyone was in their way, got up from his seat and spoke to everyone in the room. He coughed into his hand and everyone turned to him. "Since we seem to be having a little battle going on before the chunnin exams second test is over, will everyone here presently please come to the stands surrounding the arena to watch the fight. This will give the two fighters enough room, hopefully, to fight."

Once everyone was up in the stands, Naruto and Kakashi looked at each other straight in the eyes or eye if you count Naruto looking into Kakashi's one eye.

Naruto spoke up first. "The bet still stands right?"

Kakashi giggled pervert-idly and nodded. "Hai and I can't wait for that signed copy of 'Icha Icha paradise'."

"Oh but you forget Kakashi, if I win you have to stop reading for one month straight." Kakashi visibly flinched at that but shook his head.

Then he smirked, "Oh I remember the terms of our bet; I also remember the other part of yours if you lose." Taking a side glance at Haku standing beside Zabuza which he caught and became suspicious of.

Naruto looked also and then looked at Kakashi again glaring slightly. "Enough talk Kakashi." Naruto said with all seriousness in his voice.

Kakashi nodded and got serious also. Gai jumped down and got in between the two of them with a serious look on his face. He spoke loudly so everyone could hear him in the room. "This is a fight between Hatake Kakashi and Namikaze Naruto. The rules are simple, anything goes except killing; we can't have two of our best ninja killing each other. Are the two of you ready?"

Kakashi nodded and so did Naruto. Seeing this, he raised his right arm into the air. "Then let the fight between Hatake Kakashi of Konoha and Namikaze Naruto of Konoha… BEGIN!" With that he jumped back and then into the stands to stand beside his team.

As soon as the word 'start' had been said, both Naruto and Kakashi jumped backwards pulling out kunai and tossing them at each other. They hit each other right in the middle of the arena and clanged. They both jumped forward after landing at the same time and threw both their right fist at each other. They caught each other's fist in there left hand and struggled to over power the other. Then they both heard the kunai that hit each other earlier hit the ground and Kakashi pulled back bringing Naruto forward.

Naruto saw this and brought his knee up to hit Kakashi in the stomach, but he brought his own knee up to block. They pushed off each other and jumped back.

Naruto pulled out three shuriken and tossed them at Kakashi who took out a kunai and block the three with it and then quickly put it away in his pouch again. This all happened in less then five seconds.

Kakashi stood up from his crouched position and so did Naruto.

Up in the stands the people were in awe, Kiba looked at them shocked. "They moved so fast. All I saw was blurs of movement. I could only some-what track their bodies, but there movements were so fast!"

Choji and Shikamaru were in a similar state of shock. What Gai said next made them speechless. "That was a warm-up. Now they will get serious and go all out."

Lee looked at them shocked and so did his other teammates. Neji had a cool look on his face but inside he was a different story. 'So this is Namikaze Naruto. The supposed genius prodigy of Konoha. He doesn't look like much.'

Lee was think a long the same lines. 'I could follow their moves easily. They were moving at the speed I do when I take off my weights, now, let's see how fast they are when they are serious.'

Kakashi looked at Naruto and took off his wrist bands. He dropped them to the ground and they made a two foot crater. He moved his left hand up to his headband. "Your good Naruto, I'll need to use this to beat you." He lifted it up to show the Sharingan eye.

Naruto stared into Kakashi's eyes and then took off his own weighted wrist bands and let them drop to the ground. They made a one foot wide crater. "If you're going to take out all the big guns, then so am I." With that he made four seals and touched his right hand. A circle appeared with a number in it. The number was three. He tapped his right hand with his pointer finger of his left hand and said one word. "Kai!" The number turned from three to one.

Kakashi saw this and wonder what it was. Everyone else was wondering as well. The third Hokage looked shocked though. Anko who was close to him saw this and asked what was wrong

His response was heard from everyone in the room. "That seal on his right hand is a gravity seal. The only other person I've ever seen wear one was Minato, the Fourth Hokage. His at the end of his life was set to six." This made everyone gasp.

Kakashi was looking at the seal and then back at Naruto. "I see, well then shall we?" He asked. Naruto just nodded his head in response. They both got into a different taijutsu stance. Kakashi had his legs spread out slightly and his left hand was pointed forward slightly with that palm open. His right was made into a fist and was close to his body.

Naruto spread his legs out slightly; put his left hand vertical with his spine so it was in front of his body with an open palm. His right hand was held extended to the side with a half open palm.

Kakashi looked at the stance and his eyes suddenly grew wide. "That's the dragon stance!" Gai also had a shocked look on his face.

Naruto just smirked. "That's right Kakashi."

"How!? That was lost over one hundred and twenty years ago!" He stated letting everyone else know why he was shocked.

Naruto just smirked. "It's a gift from my mom, it was her family Taijutsu."

Kakashi's eye widened even more. "But I never saw her use it when I was a kid!"

"That's because she modified it some how and used a better version. She told me how in the scroll, but it's extremely hard to get right, and I have yet to master even a quarter of it yet."

"I see, so her code name, the Black Dragon of Konoha, when she was in Anbu wasn't for nothing then?" He stated more then asked.

Naruto merely nodded and gestured for him to come. Kakashi moved his right leg forward slightly and then charged in at blinding speed to most people in the room. The only ones to be able to follow him completely were the Hokage, Gai, Naruto, Asuma, and Kurenai some-what.

Kakashi threw a punch at Naruto with his left hand extended and Naruto caught it with his own left hand and pulled him in. He brought his right hand in to slam into Kakashi's chest but he saw it coming and twisted in Naruto's grip to get out. He succeeded and went for a sweep kick.

Naruto jumped over it and brought his leg down on Kakashi' shoulder only for it to be grabbed, and the younger boy to be swung over Kakashi's shoulder and tossed away.

Flipping in midair to right himself he made some hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fire Ball) The fire was five feet in diameter and headed straight for Kakashi. He had already tossed five kunai at the mid air Naruto and his kunai were consumed in the fire. The fire ball still was headed straight for him and he was consumed in it. On the other side Naruto saw this and smirked when five kunai came out of the fire and hit him in the chest area.

The audience was stunned that they had just killed each other. Kiba spoke every one of the genins thoughts. "T-they killed each other!"

Kurenai shook her head. "No they wouldn't die over something that simple." They all turned when they heard a poof and saw that the Naruto that was impaled with five kunai poofed out of existence to show a log. The real one was standing on the ground in the dragon stance except this time both hands were to the side slightly close to the body and were in half fists. It was the dragon style of defense.

Then the ground under Naruto cracked open and he jumped upwards only for Kakashi to explode out of the ground right under him and throw two kunai at him. Naruto did the same and they hit each other with both exploding into smoke. Another Kakashi exploded out of the ground and Naruto leaped off the roof and they met in mid air with kunai.

They collided and sparks flew from each other. With the advantage of being on top Naruto used gravity to help push Kakashi off and went to kick him in the face only for Kakashi to grab his foot and push him back.

Naruto took this in stride and spun with the push and tried to backhand Kakashi in the face again. Kakashi saw this in time and pushed it downwards and went for a kick of his own. Kakashi landed on the ground first and used that to get momentum and hit Naruto in the chest knocking him away a good five feet.

Kakashi didn't just stand there while Naruto was getting his balance though. He went through some seals.

"Raiton: Gaindoma." (Lightning shot) He thrust his right hand forward with his index and middle finger pointing outward and lightning shot out of the fingers going straight for Naruto.

Thinking on his feet he got his balance and made some quick seals.

"Doton: Doroma." (Earth Shot) He dragged his hands on the ground and two chunks came out and Naruto tapped them and they shot at the lightning heading toward him.

The two attacks collided and blew up scattering dust and debris every where blocking the spectators view. Everyone in the room heard the sounds of metal clashing and a few second later heard a jutsu.

"Futon: Tatsu no Oshigoto." (Severing pressure) The attack sent a great amount of wind through the area and it managed to clear the arena of all the dust every where. What they saw shocked them. Both looked like they hit each other a few times with fists but Naruto was cut on the ribs but it was very shallow and Kakashi was cut on the hip but it was also shallow. But what really got them was the straight line going from Naruto to a good ten feet in front of him in the ground. It was as if the ground was cut by something.

They were both sweating slightly and looked at each other then started to do seals again at the same time. Only the Jounin were able to even get a glimpse of the seals, the genin could only see blurs.

Kakashi finished first. "Katon: Karyudan." (Fire Dragon Missile) Fire shot out of his mouth and formed a dragon and went straight for Naruto.

Naruto finished a split second later than Kakashi. "Katon: Karyu Endan." (Fire Dragon Flame Missile) Naruto also blew out a dragon of fire but it was shaped differently. Only the head was formed not the entire body. The two attacks hit each head on and both kept the attack going for a good five seconds making the room heat up by twenty degrees. The fire was so intense that they were white hot flames were they meet in the middle.

Finally the two stopped their jutsu and started new ones. "Doton: Doroku Joheki." (Earth Shore Rampart) Kakashi said as the ground around him shifted and then rose up and slid on top of the ground toward Naruto growing as it went.

"Futon: Atsutoppa." (Pressure Breakthrough) Naruto's drew in huge a breath and blew out a hurricane of wind that went straight at the moving wall of earth. The two collided and blew up against each other. Everyone in the arena had to cover there faces from small pebbles coming and hitting them also from the back lash of the two attacks.

When the dust settled, they saw the entire arena was reshaped. The middle where the two fire attacks had met had molten rock instead of tiles and was slowly cooling thanks to the dust covering it. Then the huge fissure of rock that was to the side of it and slowly falling to the ground also was new.

Everyone present looked for the two fighters that were going at it only to hear clash after clash of metal above them. They looked up and saw them exchanging blows on the roof. The were sticking on it with chakra.

Suddenly Naruto tossed his kunai at Kakashi and made some seals.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin no jutsu." The one kunai turned into twenty and Kakashi jumped backwards to avoid it. He made some seals and put his hands down on the ground or in this case the ceiling.

"Doton: Doryuheki no jutsu." (Earth style wall) The roof rose out of the ground and came out in front of Kakashi blocking the kunai from hitting him. As soon as he heard the last thump he let his control slip off the ceiling and the wall fell to the ground instead of going back into the ceiling.

When it fell his eyes widened at what he saw. Naruto was right in front of the wall and had his arm thrown back to punch him. He jumped down but it was worthless as he was still punched with Naruto's full strength and sent sailing to the ground. He hit it and popped out of existence. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw a kunai coming from the side but was to slow to avoid it, he also popped out of existence.

They all looked down at the ground again when they suddenly felt huge amounts of chakra being summoned from two different directions.

When they saw them their eyes widened hugely. Even the Jounin and the Hokage also. Both Kakashi and Naruto were on opposite sides of the arena but what startled people the most was what they were doing.

They both were hunched over slightly and holding there right wrists with there left hand. They both were generating huge amounts of chakra and then both suddenly had an element forming in the palm of there hands. Kakashi had lightning and Naruto had fire. There respective elements formed small and then grew to cover there entire palm and then sparks of fire and lightning respectively started to shoot out of there element in there hand. The element itself was the size of a fist. Then those sparks grew and stretched out to the ground and made a circle of fire and lightning around there person.

At the safe time both opponents looked at each other straight in the eyes with as much determination as they could muster. They both had a deadly look in there eyes and were generating huge power.

To everyone else watching, the room itself felt heavy and the genin were having hard time breathing with such power moving in the air. Kakashi decided to speak up before there clash. "Let's see which ones more powerful, eh Naruto?"

Naruto nodded slightly at him with a hard look that Kakashi copied. "Hai lets."

With that both of them took a step forward and charged at each other. To them and every other person except the Hokage, they were nothing but a blur of speed. They meet in the middle of the arena and pulled there respective attacks forward. Everyone was on the edge of there seats or railing to see what the outcome would be.

To Naruto and Kakashi, it seemed like things were going in slow motion when they pulled their attacks forward. Just before they hit each others attack they yelled out the names.

"Raikiri!" (Lightning Blade)

"Kaizuki!" (Fire Blade)

There attacks hit each other and the force of the two attacks created a huge wind to come from the two. It pushed everything back, the dust, the rocks around them, and made some of the genin slide back some what on the floor for forgetting to push chakra into there feet to brace themselves with.

The two attacks themselves though, were trying to over power the other and they couldn't, they were evenly matched. Fire and lightning both flew around the room and there two attacks created a crater in the ground that was growing by the second. The crater itself was ten feet in diameter and surrounding the two fighters while chakra, fire, and lightning danced around them fighting each other.

Both Kakashi and Naruto were in a stalemate and knew it, they pushed more chakra into their attacks and pushed with all their force they could on each other. The winds picked up even more and were so strong that they blew open the doors of the arena.

Suddenly the two felt chakra building in there respective attacks and pushed off each other just as there was a violent push of power where the attacks meet that blew them both backwards all the way to the other side of the arena in different directions.

They both collided with the walls and dust covered them from view. Where the attacks meet was a huge crater of twenty feet in diameter and three feet deep.

When the dust cleared, the people watching were shocked to see both of them were completely unharmed. They were just panting extremely hard.

Up in the stands everyone was shocked at the show of power and speed. None of the genin could even follow the movements of the two as they charged at each other. The rest of the people were staring in shock at the power of the two attacks colliding. They were in aw at the whole thing.

Tenten summed up everyone's thoughts. "Amazing…" People couldn't agree more with that one.

Both Kakashi and Naruto stood up from there slouched positions against the walls and pushed out of the wall itself. They got out and walked forward some and dusted there bodies off of the pebbles and debris on them.

They looked at each other and smirked at one another. "That was one hell of a ride, ready to continue?" Naruto asked nonchalantly like nothing had happened while panting some what.

Kakashi just looked at him and smirked also. "Lets." They both got into there respective taijutsu stances and looked at each other in the eyes before charging forward.

Everyone else in the room was stunned at what Naruto said and had there jaws on the floor. 'Continue after that!? Are they insane!?' was on most of the peoples minds.

Naruto and Kakashi again meet in the middle and started to attack each other with taijutsu this time. They exchanged blow for blow and were fighting at high level Jounin. The genin couldn't keep up and some of the Jounin were even having a hard time keeping up.

Naruto went for a fist to the gut only for it to be grabbed and have to dodge a punch to the shoulder area and then try a wide kick while being tossed back some. Kakashi leaned back and pulled out a kunai and charged at Naruto who pulled out some shuriken and threw them at him only for Kakashi to easily block them and get right in Naruto's face and stab him in the stomach with the kunai.

Everyone watched in horror only to see Naruto pop out of existence. "Kage Bunshin." Kakashi whispered and had his head cut off only for him to poof out of existence also.

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto whispered from the side wall. Kakashi was no where in site. Then he felt a small chakra spike and jumped in time to avoid the water bullet.

"Suiton: Suigadan." (Water Fang Bullet) The water missed my a few inches. Naruto flipped and landed on the ground only to be punched in the face and fly backwards. Just as his leg passed Kakashi he extended it and hit him in the chin making him fly backward to.

By now both of them had several bruises and cuts and were panting extremely hard. They both got up off the ground and looked at each other. They were yet again on the opposite sides of the arena looking at each other.

Kakashi let out a sigh. "Damn and I was having so much fun to." He said to no one in particular but everyone heard him.

Naruto sighed also. "Ya I know what you mean. It's been a while since I've been challenged to go all out."

They smiled at each other. "Ya tell me about it." There was a silence between the two of them and no one dared to disturbed them afraid they would interrupt something.

Kakashi ran his right hand threw his hair and sighed. "We're both tired Naruto, we can't keep fighting. We got just enough chakra to finish this in one move. What do you say?" He asked tiredly with a genuine smile behind his mask.

Naruto smiled at him to. "Sure thing Kakashi, but lets do it a little different than last time."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh and you have another technique that I don't know about that can stand up to the power of my Raikiri?"

Naruto smirked again and then that turned into a grin. "Oh I think you've seen this technique before. After all it was my dad that created it."

The Jounin up in the stands started to murmur among each other and talk about this. The genin were utterly confused. Kakashi himself was surprised, but that turned out to be a sigh in a few seconds. "Figures I would have to go up against that technique. I always wondered how my Raikiri would fare against Minato-sensei's own personal jutsu."

The genin were still confused and Lee had enough. "What are they talking about Gai-sensei?"

Gai looked at him out of the corner of his eye, then at Naruto again. "Lee, Naruto truly is a genius." He stated in an absolutely serious voice that got everyone's attention on him because he was almost never serious unless your life was on the line.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked with curiously.

Gai kept his eyes on Naruto but answered any ways. "Naruto is fourteen year old, your age Lee, and yet he has achieved the rank of elite Jounin. He has been fighting one of the leafs strongest people and been able to hold his own and keep it at a stand still. That is an accomplishment of its own. But to be able to re-create Kakashi's own personal technique which is S-rank and then match it evenly and change it to fit himself without any prior knowledge is astonishing. But if what Naruto says is true, then he has mastered a jutsu that only two other people in the world have ever known. One is Yondaime-sama himself, his father; the other is Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin."

The genin in the room and even the Jounin in the room were astonished at the boy's power. Gai continued though. "What's truly remarkable though is that if he did master it then he must have mastered it with in the last two years at least."

"Why is that Gai-sensei, is the technique special in some way?" Tenten asked.

Gai shook hi head yes. "Of course it's special, but that is not why I said that he could not master it until these last two years though. The reason I said this is because that technique requires Jounin level chakra control and chakra stores. Not only that but Yondaime-sama was able to master the move himself in three years. For Naruto to be able to master it in two years or less is incredible."

The others in the room couldn't agree more. The Sandaime looked a Gai shocked but shook his head. "Gai." Everyone looked at him. "Your information is incredible. Were did you get it?"

Gai looked a little nervous but told anyways. "Well, Jiraiya-sama got a little drunk and I asked him some questions. Those were apart of them." He said sheepishly.

Sarutobi could only shake his head in disappointment at his own student's actions. "Your right about everything you said Gai, but I'll give you some more. Yondaime was the one who created it and master it in three years, but Jiraiya took one year to master it. Naruto down there only took three weeks to master that jutsu. He mastered it just three months ago while Jiraiya was here to help him out."

That got everyone in the room shocked. The Yondaime, the strongest ninja to ever live took three years to master a jutsu and Naruto did it in three weeks. Kiba summed up everyone's thought. "Holly shit!"

Back in the arena Kakashi and Naruto were listening in also while keeping an eye on each other at the same time. Kakashi's eyes got as big as saucers when he heard how long it took Naruto to master the jutsu. "Y-you master that technique in THREE weeks!" He asked astonished.

Naruto merely shrugged and then looked at Kakashi expectantly. Kakashi caught the look and knew they were going to go at it again. He sighed in astonishment and then looked up with his gaze hardened that Naruto copied. There chakra both spiked up to its maximum of what they could get at the moments. Kakashi did twenty seals in two seconds flat that made sure no one could copy the jutsu.

He grabbed his wrist and the familiar lightning came up in his hand. It created the circle of lightning also while having a crackle sound to it and he looked up at Naruto who held his hand to the side with his palm open. Everyone watched in astonishment as a ball of pure chakra rose from Naruto's palm and inside they could see a hurricane of moving chakra and the ball itself was glowing blue with a slight hum to it. It took five seconds for the ball to form completely.

Shikamaru looked astonished. "A seal less jutsu, incredible." He said out loud which everyone that didn't think of it now realized it was indeed incredible.

Neji activated his bloodline for... Kami-sama... who knows how many time this day and looked at the ball. He was blinded by it and shut his eyes off quickly looking away. Tenten saw this and asked what was wrong. He responded to the question. "That ball is completely made of chakra and has an enormous amount of it in it. It blinded my Byakugan when I focused in on it." The ones who knew of the Byakugan and its abilities were very impressed with the power the thing had just by looking at it.

Both Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other for one second straight and then a piece of the ceiling fell down and headed for the ground. Everyone watched it and the two down in the arena and when it hit the ground the two of them exploded forward.

When they were in the middle they trust there attacks out at each other and they collided.

"Raikiri!"

"Rasengan!"

The two attacks hit each other and like before a massive wind blew out from the two attacks hitting as they fought for dominance over the others respective attack. Lightning and chakra were flying all over the place and they kept going at it.

Finally they both pushed as hard as they could with there attacks and the two attacks seemed to combine. A circular sphere of chakra formed around them and grew until it was forty feet in diameter. It was just three feet away from the stands where everyone was watching and they were glad that it stopped growing. They just hoped it wouldn't explode too.

The chakra turned pitch black and just stayed like that for a good five seconds before a intricate pattern of white seemed to form on the outside of the black ball of chakra. Once it reached the outer edge the entire thing went from black to white and then slowly shrunk until it was completely gone.

What they saw astonished them to no end. Both Naruto and Kakashi were lying on the ground and breathing extremely hard. They were in a crater forty feet wide and five feet deep.

Slowly they both got up on shaking legs. They both looked utterly exhausted. Kakashi had his Sharingan eye closed and was bleeding from the mouth like he was hit by something. Naruto was also bleeding but from a gash on his right arm that looked deep and hurt like hell. The arm was hanging limp at his side.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and grinned weakly. Kakashi did the same. "Let's call it a draw Naruto… we both… can't move." He said wincing slightly when he said it.

Naruto shook his head no slightly. "No… I will… finish… this fight… now." He panted out. Kakashi looked at him dumbfounded as did everyone else there.

"And… how… do you… plan to do… that if… you can't… move?" Kakashi panted out barely staying on his feet himself.

Naruto smirked slightly. "Like this…"

Naruto lift his leg very slowly and gathered his last remnants of what was left of his chakra. He had just enough to travel the five feet distance he needed and not kill himself doing it.

"Shunpo." (Flash Step) Naruto whispered out and his foot hit the ground. He disappeared and re-appeared right in front of Kakashi and slammed his head into his. Kakashi was caught completely off guard and he couldn't move anyways so he took the hit head on. He hit the floor with a bleeding forehead and was knocked out. Naruto stumbled a little but some how managed to stay on his feet after shuffling them twice. He looked at the unconscious Kakashi and smiled.

"I… win." With that he feel forward and landed on the ground unconscious laying on his stomach with a smile on his face.

Everyone in the room was completely stunned by what they saw and have been holding there breath unconsciously. They breathed out and looked at the results of what happened. Everyone was completely quite afraid they would disturb something if they talked.

Finally someone spoke and it happened to be Lee. "Damn…" that statement seemed to get everyone out of there trance and back to reality. Gai jumped down as did Zabuza, Haku, Shikamaru Choji, Kiba, and Sarutobi.

Gai raised his hand into the air. "The winner of this fight is no one. It's a draw between Namikaze Naruto and Hatake Kakashi." He brought down his hand. At the moment the Hokage appeared next to him.

Haku moved over to Naruto and started to look at his wounds with her medical knowledge.

Suddenly the Hokage started to bark out orders. "Haku, continue healing Naruto, Gai, get a medic squad in here now! Move!" He said in a demanding voice with huge amounts of authority in it. They both got to work right away with there orders.

If anyone would have looked they would have seen a smirking Gaara looking at Naruto with an insane look in his eyes.

Two days passed and went surprisingly fast for those at the tower. They suddenly found themselves all standing in front of the Hokage as he explained how the finals would work. During the last two days many things have happened.

Both Naruto and Kakashi were hospitalized and taken care of 24/7 and were now up and about on there feet but they still couldn't fight more than a low level chunnin and hurt themselves in the process. Both Kakashi and Naruto had many visitors during there stay at the hospital and Naruto had one in particular that he was still getting grief for.

Haku came by on the first day and gave him a get well card and a pot of flowers when he was sleeping in the bed. When he woke up he found the flowers and read the card afterwards. Kakashi was still pulling jokes on him about how she was interested and he should go for it.

Of course Naruto ignored it and was now standing in the now fixed arena. Everything looked like it did before and was perfectly fine. Naruto was curious on how they fixed it so quickly and Asuma just said that his dad paid the construction crew twice as much to get it done in two days and would give them a bonus of three thousand yen each if they could make it look like brand new. Needless to say it got done a few hours ahead of schedule.

Now Naruto was standing behind the Hokage with the other Jounins and waiting for the matches. Gekko Hayate was going to be the referee for the prelims because there were too many people left.

During his bed stay, Shikamaru and his team had come over and told him about how they passed the first and second test.

In the first test they each figured out that they had to cheat to get the answers to pass. Kiba used his dog to get answers and Shikamaru used his shadow to imitate what he was writing for Choji. He already knew the answers and what he didn't he used a small jutsu Naruto had taught him. It allowed him to place a subtle genjutsu over the person next to him and get a few peeks at the paper. He noticed that the examiner saw this and just nodded to him.

Shikamaru asked why he got away with it and Naruto explained that it must have been subtle enough to work in the particular situation used and showed Chunnin abilities so he got away with it and didn't get in trouble. That was the point of the first test. To cheat and show your information gathering skills. They passed no problem even with Ibiki's mental torture he tried.

Then in the second test they raced into the forest and about a quarter into the forest they found a team from rain talking to each other. They snuck up on them and listened in. They ended up talking about what their strategy should be for the test. They some how came up with the idea that splitting up would be a good idea and they used that to there advantage.

When one of them was alone they picked him off with very little struggle and they managed to knock him out without trouble. They searched him but found no scroll. They took his equipment and then tied him up with some of his own ninja wire and left him for dead. Two hours later his last two teammates came back to look for him and found him hanging upside down from a tree.

They went to get him free and just when they took out his gage that was in his mouth, he screamed it was a trap. But that was too late and Shikamaru had already launched a wind attack that blew them back into two different trees separating them from each other. Both Kiba and Choji took one on each. They were relatively easy to beat seeing as they ambushed them. All three of the rain nins were knocked out cold and stripped of all weapons and there scroll which just happened to be the one they were looking for to pass the test.

Afterward they spent the next six hours going through the woods. They had to avoid two teams on there way there and that's the reason it took so long to get to the tower where they were told they passed the second test and to rest up for the next five days.

After Choji and Kiba had left for some food and Shikamaru telling them he would catch up later, Shikamaru became serious and this caught Naruto's attention. He explained this person named Kabuto and how he thought that having that much information shouldn't be possible for a genin. After hearing it he tended to agree and when he raised his hands to quite when the second exam prelims started, it just added more suspicion to the genin called Kabuto.

As he was walking out Naruto called out to him. "Kabuto wait." The genin did and he looked him over and tried to sense his chakra level. He sensed that they were at least at mid chunnin chakra stores and had at least high genin chakra left which was high but considering that other genin in the room had that level or higher, it wasn't.

Shaking his head he spoke up. "Why are you leaving again?"

Kabuto looked at him confused as did some other people then answered. "I'm low on chakra and won't be able to fight very well because of it."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and spoke in a calm voice. "If that is so than why do I sense you have at least high genin level chakra still?"

Kabuto flinched slightly but it went unnoticed by everyone but the Jounin in the room. "I'm afraid your senses must be dulling because I don't have that much chakra left."

Naruto studied him with his eyes as did some other Jounin because they could sense it to. "Tell me Kabuto, how did you get so much information on me? No one should know how many missions I have done except the Hokage, me and a few other select people."

Kabuto looked a little nervous now. "Well I got it from the secretary at the Hokage tower, why?"

"Is that so? Then may I see this info card you have on me?" Naruto asked in a calm voice.

Kabuto nodded hesitantly and walked over to Naruto. He put chakra into the card and it came up with the info. Naruto took it and looked at it. The farther he got the more he didn't like.

Naruto looked back at Kabuto after reading the card over. He hardened his eyes at him. "There is no way that the Hokage's secretary could have this much info on me. There are only a few way you got this. You either have some friends in very high places, which I doubt, or you're a spy and a traitor to the village." Kabuto instantly jumped back and started to do seals but was stopped as Ibiki snapped his fingers and ten Anbu appeared and held Kabuto down.

Kabuto looked up from where he was and looked straight at Naruto. "How did you figure it out?"

Naruto looked right back at him. "That is none of your concern now, take him." With that the Anbu disappeared with Kabuto in tow.

Naruto sent a look at Shikamaru that clearly said 'good job' and then went back to his place behind the Hokage.

And thus the prelims of the chunnin exams were started. The Hokage explained because so many people passed in the second part, their had to be a preliminary fight to narrow down the contestants for the finals. He explained that the daimyos and other important people were there to watch good fights and not bad ones and they can't waist their time.

Hayate walked up to the front of the genin and addressed them all. "Now the prelims of the chunnin exams will commence. The rules are simple. These will be one on one fights, with the winner left standing. There are no rules except you must stop when I say so or you will be disqualified. You may kill if you want but you have to stop when I say so or risk being disqualified. Now the board behind me will show who fights who."

Everyone turned and saw an electronic board come from the wall and started to shuffle through names until it stopped on two.

Hayate saw the names. "Will Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akadou please step up to the middle of the ring? Everyone else go to the stands please."

When they were all up in the stands he started the fight. The fight was one sided at first with Yoroi using a jutsu that allowed him to suck the chakra out of Sasuke. Sasuke got hit a few times until he figured out what was happening and then used a jutsu of his own that allowed for him to appear behind Yoroi after he kicked him up into the air.

When in the air Sasuke flinched and Naruto saw something on his neck. 'So it was true. Orochimaru really was in the forest and gave Sasuke a curse seal by the looks of it. That's not good; Kakashi doesn't have the chakra to put the suppressor seal on him right now. He'll have to do it later.' Naruto thought to himself.

Soon the curse seal resided and Sasuke then laid a barrage of punches and kicks into Yoroi that knocked him out and Sasuke was declared the winner. Soon he was taken away by the doctor with Ibiki motioning some Anbu to watch over him.

The next fight was Shino Aburame vs. Kankuro of the sand.

The fight was interesting to say the least. Naruto watched on like everyone else and was analyzing every one of the fights. 'Interesting. I was right; Kankuro does use puppets for weapons.' He thought as he watched Kankuro take off the wrapping on his back and then proceeded to use it to attack Shino who had bugs crawling out of his jacket. The bugs soon either flew in the air or started to crawl on the floor and attack Kankuro and his puppet.

Shino in the mean time was dodging left and right to avoid the puppet. Right when he was about to be hit with a hidden knife the puppet just stopped.

Shino then explained that he put his bugs on the puppet and had them clog the joints of the puppet and eat the chakra strings attached to the puppet to stop the movement of the thing. It works like a charm. Afterwards there was a very small Taijutsu spare and Shino managed to get enough bugs on Kankuro to drain him of his chakra and he won his match.

Hayate stepped up the middle of the ring again. "Match three will be Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi."

Kin used some genjutsu with the use of senbon needles with bells attached. She managed to catch Shikamaru in the genjutsu and he started to stumble and see multiple Kins that weren't there. Just when Kin was about to finish him off she was suddenly frozen.

Shikamaru managed to attach his shadow to her by hiding it under the string that was attached to the senbon needles. He then threw kunai at each other and they both leaned back to avoid the kunai. Kin followed Shikamaru because of the jutsu she was trapped in she had no choice. When she leaned back she hit her head on the wall and was knocked out. Shikamaru won his match using strategy.

The next match was Rock Lee vs. Sai.

Sai used his ink clones and beasts to attack Lee who could only use Taijutsu. They learned this when Gai, explained he was unable to use ninjutsu and genjutsu and was stuck to only hand to hand combat.

But as the match went on with Lee dodging and destroying the Ink creatures and clones with his fists, feet, and kunai, it showed he was rather good at using hand to hand in combat. He had to be to survive as a ninja.

Eventually Lee destroyed all of the ink clones and then engaged Sai in taijutsu before he could create more. Lee ran circles around Sai and Sai just couldn't keep up with Lee's speed and experience in taijutsu.

After a severe beating Lee won his match after Sai couldn't get up because of the lotus technique Lee used on him.

The next match was Inuzuka Kiba vs. Yamanaka Ino.

Once the match started Kiba tossed one kunai at Ino which she dodged and she started to talk about how bad of a ninja he was. Kiba became angry and you could tell by the growling escaping his throat.

Up in the stands Kakashi and Naruto's team were standing beside each other. Kakashi looked at Kiba and turned to Naruto. "Looks like your student is letting his temper get the better of him Naruto."

Naruto just gave him a side glance and looked down at Kiba. He shook his head. "We'll see Kakashi, we'll see." With that they both turned there attention on the fight below.

Kiba was getting pissed at the loud girl and his fist was clenching and unclenching. Then he remembered his lessons on his team and Naruto telling him to always be calm in a fight other wise you will make rookie mistakes that you other wise wouldn't have.

Shaking his head he took a calm breath and his shaking stopped. With that he attacked Ino and managed to put five gashes in her chest area with his claws while she was still talking about how bad he was. She screamed in pain and managed to stay standing and tried her family jutsu on Kiba which would let her enter a persons mind and control there body.

Right when she did the jutsu Kiba jumped to the side and Ino missed. She slumped to the floor and Kiba was declared the winner and came out with out a scratch on him.

When he got to the stands Naruto nodded his congratulation to him and Shikamaru and Choji did the same. Naruto smiled at Kiba. "You did well Kiba. You didn't let your anger control you and because of that you won your match with out a problem and managed to not get hurt at all. Good job."

Kiba just grinned at him and his team mates. "Ya, well it was still nothing compared to yours and Kakashi's fight. None of ours can compare to that." He grumbled the last part.

Naruto just laughed lightly and so did Kakashi. "Don't worry Kiba. Some day you'll be able to fight like me and Naruto did." Kakashi assured him.

The next fight was between Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata.

The fight was very intense with both fighters using the juken style of fighting taijutsu. When the genin were asking about it Gai told everyone in the room how it worked.

Supposedly the Hyuuga bloodline; the Byakugan allowed them to see chakra and attack it directly. Using the juken fighting style they attack the chakra in ones body. One could also attack the bodies' organs inside the body. By doing this it causes internal damage and even a glancing blow could kill if you know what you're doing.

The fight consisted of nothing but taijutsu using the juken style. Hinata was at a clear disadvantage after the first few tussles were done. The style actually looked like an elaborate dance and one mistake meant you would loose.

After they traded blows Neji hit Hinata in the chest and she flew back and managed to get back up and continue fighting. After another deadly dance of hand to hand Neji hit her near the heart and she collapsed coughing up blood.

Neji walked away saying fate decided him the winner and was about to be declared the winner when Hinata stood up and told Neji he was the coward running away from fate and trying to change it.

Neji got pissed at that statement and charged her trying to kill her. Just when he was about to hit her, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and Naruto appeared holding him down.

"Is this the special treatment the Hyuuga main family gets?!" Neji yelled in anger. The Jounin let him go and he jumped back from them.

Naruto stepped forward in front of the others. "Why did you try to kill Hinata? You already won the match." He asked in a calm voice.

Neji just scoffed. "She deserves it. My fate was decided when I was born in the branch family, I was fated to always be cursed with a seal that controls my life."

Naruto looked at him hard and turned his back to him and started too walk back up to the stairs. While walking he talked to Neji still with his back turned to him. "Fate controls nothing Neji. This village was fated to be destroyed by the nine tails, but my dad managed to stop it. I was fated to die when I was eight and encountered more then I could handle on my mission."

Here he stopped and turned his head to Neji and looked him right in the eye. "But my friend took the blow for me and died. He saved my life. I was chosen to die there, but he did instead. No Neji, there is no such thing as fate."

With that he continued to walk on and talk. "If there is such a thing as fate, then I will fight it with all my power and defeat it. No one controls my life. I decide what happens to my life and no one else." With that he reaches the top of the balcony by his team and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Neji looked at his hands and then clenched them and walked up the balcony too. Soon the others on the floor joined him with Hinata being taken away by the medics.

If one were to look at Neji they would see he was in deep thought. 'Is it really possible to defeat fate and to live my life the way I want to?' He asked himself and looked at Naruto that still had his eyes closed and was leaning against the wall. He suddenly clenched his hands tight and his knuckles became white. 'If fate is changeable, then I will also fight it with all my might!' He thought with resolve.

Gai looked down at his student and was also in thought. 'Neji what will you do now?'

The next match was between Akimichi Choji and Hirigashi Tenten.

The fight started out with Choji just dodging kunai and shuriken every second. Then he charged in and tried a taijutsu fight but Tenten kept her distance always.

The fight continued like this; Tenten would throw weapons and Choji would either block or dodge.

Finally the barrage of weapons stopped and Tenten took out two scrolls and put them on the ground were they exploded and flew into the air. Tenten appeared in the middle of them and soon weapons started to rain down on Choji. Tenten just performed the twin rising dragon jutsu.

He dodged the first few but then realized he had no chance of avoiding all of them that were coming.

Taking one final jump back he started to perform some hand seals and when he landed he slammed his hands onto the ground as hard as he could actually smashing the tiles in with the force of the hit.

"Doton: Doryuheki." (Earth Style Wall) A huge wall of earth rose up in front of Choji and stood a good twenty feet tall and eight feet wide by two feet thick. Behind the wall Choji could hear the wall being impaled multiple times and he lost count after fifty-seven thunk sounds.

Finally the thuds of weapons hitting earth stopped and he pulled his hands off the ground and the wall of earth started to retreat into the ground. As it was falling Choji did some seals as fast as he could.

"Baika no jutsu." (Multi Size) His body bloated up and became a ball of fat and energy.

When the wall was completely down, Tenten saw the huge ball that was Choji and lifted her hands up and the weapons all rose up off the ground. Each weapon was connected with wire and the wire was connected to her hand. She then pushed every weapon at the prone ball that was Choji.

"Nikudan Sensha no jutsu." (Human Bullet Tank) The ball started to spin and eventually after two seconds was nothing but a blur of spinning and the ball suddenly shot off to the side avoiding most of the weapons. The ones that did hit just bounced off the spinning ball. The ball hit the wall and bounced off it and into the air were Tenten was. Her eyes widened and she brought some weapons in the path of the six foot ball of death and all the weapons were thrown away like they were nothing.

Still in mid air with no way to dodge she was hit head on by the human tank attack and was flung into the wall and impacted with a deadly amount of force. After the impact with the wall she slumped to the floor beaten and bloody.

Choji came down softly and the ball stopped spinning and he shrunk back to normal size. He was pronounced the winner with congratulations from Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto.

"You did well Choji." Naruto started. "To be able to hit the wall and use it as a spring with out hurting the wall itself at all must have taken a lot of practice. Good job." Choji grinned at the compliment and the next match was announced.

Abumi Zaku vs. Misumi of sound.

The fight was very interesting with weird abilities. Zaku had holes in his arms that could shoot out high pressure wind and Misumi could bend his body like a rubber band.

Misumi mostly just dodged Zaku for the most part and then went in for close combat and managed to twist his body around Zaku's and started to squeeze his body and try to crush Zaku. Just when Hayate was going to pronounce the winner to stop them from killing each other Zaku got his hands free and used his pressure attack close range.

It had the effect of blowing a hole in Misumi's stomach and blowing him back. Unfortunately for Zaku, he was holding onto him tight and when he was blown back he managed to snake his arms around his neck and it was snapped.

They both died in the fight.

The next match was Gaara of the sand vs. Kinuta Dosu.

The fight was relatively quick. Dosu ran at Gaara only for him to be consumed in sand from the gourd on Gaara's back. After he was consumed he was crushed by the said sand and his blood rained down on the arena. Gaara looked like he didn't even care that he just killed a person in cold blood. He just shunshined back to the balcony after being declared the winner.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Gaara again. 'What was that feeling again? It was his chakra but I've never felt chakra like that before. It almost felt… tainted or something.' Naruto continued to look at Gaara and he stared back without blinking once.

The last fight was Haruno Sakura vs. Temari of the sand.

They both went down to the ring and stood before each other. The moment the match started Temari jumped back and put her right hand on her giant fan on her back.

Sakura made some seals that everyone in the room could easily follow and recognize. If one was to look at Temari's face they would see a look of disappointment.

Two bunshins (Illusions) of herself appeared beside her and ran at Temari. Said girl just stood there and the two bunshins punches went right threw her and she raised her left hand and caught the punch from the real Sakura.

"You're kidding me right?" Temari asked as she pushed the hand she was holding to the side and then backhanded Sakura. She flew back five feet and landed on her butt.

"I didn't even put half my strength into that backhand and you couldn't keep your balance to stay on your feet. You're a sad excuse for a shinobi girl." Temari said shaking her head.

Sakura got up and you could see she was bleeding from the mouth and a bruise would form on her face later. "I'm a great kunoichi! What are you talking about?!" Sakura screech at Temari.

Said girl pulled her fingers out of her ear and shook her head. "You are what make us real kunoichi get bad reputations. You're too concerned about your hair and nails to be an actual shinobi."

"I am not!" Sakura screeched.

Temari winced at the volume used in her voice. "What the hell is your problem?! Stop screeching already! I'm ten feet away from you girl. You don't need to use that shrill voice of yours on me." She started out pissed but then became calm at the end.

Sakura just grunted and stood up on shaky legs. Temari saw her stand and took off her fan on her back. "You are such a sad excuse for a shinobi it's not even funny. I've seen academy students that can fight better than you have."

Sakura just glared and made the same seals as before and two bunshins appeared beside her. Temari shook her head in disappointment. "Well, I don't want to waste any more time with some one as weak as you. So I'll just finish this right now."

With that she opened her fan all the way up and took one swing at the girl.

"Kamaitachi no jutsu." (Cutting Whirlwind) With that a huge gust of wind came from her fan and circled all three Sakura's and two dispelled immediately showing the only real one. The wind lifted her into the air and a small tornado appeared and she was in the middle of it. She suddenly got several cuts on her body that looked very deep and severe.

The jutsu lasted a good ten seconds of this and finally it stopped to show a bloody and cut Sakura that was unconscious and falling to the ground. Temari was right next to where she would land closed her fan so it was a solid steel blunt object.

Sakura landed right on top of it and her back arched in a very painful way. Sakura's eyes snapped open and there was a silent scream before she passed out from the pain. She laid there on the fan not moving. Temari lifted the fan will ease with Sakura still on it and tossed her to the side of the arena were she impacted with the wall hard.

Temari was declared the winner and Sakura was taken away with medic Nins working on her.

After that the semi finals were declared over and the Hokage gave a speech to all that passed the semi finals. He told everyone there that the finals would be a one on one match between the winners of the chunnin exams second part test. They were told that the matches would be selected right before the final exam started so they should prepare for anyone to be there opponent. They were also told that if you win or lose you can become a Chunnin as long as you show the skills necessary to be a Chunnin.

They were given two months time to get read for the finals of the Chunnin exams. The only reason it was two and not one was because of so many daimyos and leaders of villages wanting to come and some of them were rather far away.

With that each respective person left in their own way and departed the tower to head home and prepare.

Naruto walked over to his team and stood before them. "Meet at training ground nineteen at nine in the morning in two days. You have two days to recover and prepare for training that I will give you. Dismissed." With that he disappeared in a pillar of flames.

"Show off." Kiba muttered and thought of some thing. "Damn it! Why couldn't he take us with him! Now we have to walk home!"

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said under his breath and Choji just nodded his head agreeing with them both.

Author Notes…

Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quotes I think are interesting…

"When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up."

"When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it."

"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing -- then we truly live life."

For the people who wanted to know when Naruto and Haku's date will be, that should be in two chapters. Not the next one but the one after that.

As for who won the bet, Naruto or Kakashi, you'll have to wait and see until next chapter to find out. Hehehehehe… though it was a tie, I never stated what would happen with a tie on purpose for this reason. Mu-hahahahaha.

As for the chapter I hope you liked it and as always any reviews I get will be very much appreciated. I will always answer any question you have and I hoped you liked it because I had a hard time with the genin matches.

I would also like to say I have no idea when the next chapter will be out as I just started school and my time is gone completely, so sadly updates I have no idea when it will be. Might even be longer than normal sadly.

Review…

Battousai222


	12. My Precious and New Jutsu’s

Well this is chapter thirteen. To tell you the truth; I am amazed at how much I have written so far. I never expected to write a one-hundred-thousand word story. And to think it is about half way done if that. I also am surprised but ENORMOUSLY happy at the amount of reviews I get.

I also had some complaints on the genin fights. I understand that they were short and kind of rushed. But I really didn't want to explain everything in extreme detail and I prefer to focus more on Naruto in this story. I still wrote them and said how they won, just not in detail… sorry if you wanted huge detail. The finals will be better I promise, but no where near as long as Naruto's and Kakashi's fight, I hope…

As for any Sakura bashing I did in this story last chapter… I'm not sorry for it, but I will try not to bash her to much any more. People seem to not like it, even though I do immensely. Though there will be more to come… so ya… sorry to Sakura lovers, I warned you when I first started this story not to read if you like Sasuke and Sakura.

As for Neji believing fate doesn't exist any more and control everything, bull. I'm sorry if it sounded like that, but that was not my intention. I wanted Naruto to be part of the development, but I guess I portrayed it to look like Neji turned a new leaf. He still believes fate controls everything; he just now thinks that if one is strong, one can fight fate. He isn't convinced yet though. Sorry for the confusion.

I also had tons of questions of what happened with the bet between Kakashi and Naruto. I didn't clarify on purpose for there to be a cliff hanger of sorts, but read and find out in this chapter.

Now onto the chapter that you would all like to read.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

My Precious and New Jutsu's

"Kakashi?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the man that was leaning against a glass window and looked ready to cry.

"What are you doing Kakashi?" Naruto asked again but this time getting a good look at him. He looked disheveled. It looked like he had no sleep and his fingers were twitching now and again.

Looking up from the ground, and straight at Naruto he responded. "They took my precious…" he trailed off again looking longingly at the book store.

Naruto could see in his eyes that he didn't sleep last night at all if not for the last two days. He was curious now. "Your precious?" Naruto asked clearly confused.

Kakashi nodded and turned back around. "You know how we tied in the fight due to you falling unconscious seconds after you knocked me out right?" Naruto nodded waiting for him to continue.

"Well, when we tied, that meant that no one won the bets for the fight so we didn't have to pay up. I guess when we were in the hospital, Kurenai, and Anko got together and some how got all the female ninja in the village to give a donation to them."

Naruto arched an eyebrow at him. "A donation you say. What for?"

Here Kakashi's fingers started to twitch and his eye dropped. "The donation was to buy every 'Icha Icha Paradise' book in Konoha from every store."

Naruto raised his eyebrow again clearing saying silently, 'and this is bad why?' As he saw the sign that Kakashi was blocking until now with his body. The sign on the store said, 'All out of Icha Icha Paradise books.'

Kakashi saw this look and was instantly right in Naruto's face before he could even react. "They bought _every_ 'Icha Icha Paradise' book in Konoha. They also some how got into my apartment while I was sleeping in the hospital and took _every_ one of my own personal books to."

Naruto had a look of understanding on his face as he said this. Those books were Kakashi's life source, you never saw him without one. Then it hit him, if they bought every book in Konoha, then where did they turn up?

"Kakashi." The man nodded for him to continue even though his back was to him now. He had his attention. "Where did they put all the books that they bought?"

Here the man in front of him literally stiffened as hard as a board and then slowly but surely turned around. When he was facing Naruto he got the shook of his life. Kakashi, the great 'Copy Cat of Konoha' was crying. _Crying!_

"Good Kami-sama Kakashi, what did they do to make _you _cry?!" Naruto asked startled and a little afraid of the answer he would get.

Kakashi started to shiver and convulse uncontrollably and then looked right at Naruto in the eyes. "They _burned_ them all! All of them Naruto! What am I going to do now! I need those books Naruto! I _need_ them!"

Naruto at this point was between laughing at the man in front of him and feeling sad for him at the same time. Laughing because of the ludicrously he was showing for some books and sad because the man was breaking down because of them.

After a full minute of trying to keep it to himself and laughing up a storm inside, he finally was able to control himself outside and not laugh openly at his friend's expense.

Naruto walked up to the shaking man and put a hand on his shoulder. Kakashi looked up and saw it was Naruto with a sympathetic look on his face. "Is there anything I can do for you Kakashi?" At this the man brightened some what but you could tell he was still down.

Kakashi turned around and started to walk towards the directions of the woods. He stopped and looked back at the prone Naruto standing there. "Are you coming?" With that he started to walk again and Naruto quickly caught up.

After a full ten minutes of walking they got to a clearing that looked like it had a fire recently and their were white flowers all around the burned area that was about twenty feet wide.

After a few seconds Naruto realised that this must be where they burned all the books. He looked at Kakashi and he saw he was staring longingly at the ashes.

Naruto had to resist the urges to not laugh again. Then he thought of something. 'How are there this many white roses? Kakashi couldn't have bought them all could he?' He asked himself.

Kakashi just happened to see the confused look on Naruto's face and guesses what he was thinking. "Your wondering if all these white roses are mine, aren't you?"

Naruto just nodded. Kakashi sighed in sadness. "No these are not all mine. It seems I wasn't the only one in Konoha that had there books taken from them. It was every male person in the village that has a wife or boyfriend. These flowers are there respects to the precious."

Naruto looked at the white roses again and his eyes nearly bulged. 'There has to be over five hundred white roses here!' He realized.

Shaking his head he walked up to Kakashi and put his hand on his shoulder again. "Don't worry Kakashi; I'm sure the book stores are already ordering more books to replace the ones lost. Do you know when the next shipment is coming?"

Here Kakashi nearly cried again. "T-the next shipment is… is… in o-one month." He stammered out as if it was the most horrible thing in the world.

Naruto looked at him again and just sighed. He walked up to the burn sight and sighed again. He bowed once and muttered a 'sorry ero-sennin' and stood back up and walked back to Kakashi.

"I've paid my respects Kakashi; I'll see you around, ok." Naruto said as he walked off leaving a man to stare longingly at the ashes of his precious.

Once out of ear shot and walking on auto pilot he let loose his inner demands. He laughed his head off. He started to laugh so hard that his side was starting to hurt and tears were coming out of the corner of his eyes. After a full three minutes of laughing he had no idea where he was going but he didn't care.

He ended up walking right into training field nineteen and he heard talking. He didn't pay attention to it though and kept walking along ignoring the three people staring at him intently with different looks on there faces. One had irritation, confusion, and the other one had anger.

Finally the one that was angry shouted out at him, which made him get his bearings right and he noticed he was at training field nineteen or rather was leaving the training field after just entering. "You teme! What's so funny and why are you an hour late?!" Kiba yelled out harshly.

Naruto looked confused as hell and Choji picked up on this. "You do know its ten O'clock right?" The look on Naruto's face clearly showed he didn't know that little detail.

Naruto had a look of understanding suddenly. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said to no one in particular.

Kiba growled at him and was rolling up his sleeve to give a beating. Naruto took a step back and held up his hands shaking them wildly. "I have a good reason!" He said defensively. They all arched there eyebrows clearly not believing him.

He sighed and sat down which his three genin followed reluctantly. "Talk." Kiba said bluntly.

Sighing he told them about his morning of waking up and getting the training ready and bumping into Kakashi and the whole thing about him and the grave of his books. They looked at him like he was crazy and then suddenly they all burst out into laughter and fell on there backs laughing at Kakashi's expense.

When they were laughing Naruto suddenly thought of something. 'I haven't laughed this hard with other people since Kaito was alive. Are my three genin becoming more than just subordinates and becoming friends?' He asked himself as he kept laughing with a far away look on his face.

After a good laugh they all managed to get there control together and Shikamaru and Choji both thought of something. They looked at each other and suddenly both burst out laughing again. Naruto and Kiba looked at them confusedly.

"What so funny guys?" Kiba asked his friends.

Choji managed to get some control and said between laughs. "We just realized that this funeral is the reason both out dads have been so sad these last two days." And burst out laughing again. Kiba and Naruto joined in again.

If a person was walking by at that time, they would not have seen a Jounin and three Genin. No, he would have seen four friends laughing and enjoying time together.

Naruto himself had a huge smile on his face. 'Yes, definitely more than subordinates, they are my friends also. This is what the old man was talking about all that time ago.' He thought happily to himself.

Flashback two days before genin team selection meeting…

"Ah Fox, calm down a little, this is not the end of the world and I have a very good reason to take you out off the Anbu. That is because you have no experience with people your age what so ever, you may be a good shinobi but you don't know how to have fun and act around people your own age. You need to spend some time with your own age group or at least around your own age group. That is why I am taking you off the Anbu and making you a Jounin."

After some heated argument they eventually came to an understanding with Naruto letting in with a heated glare.

"Thank you for seeing it my way Naruto-kun, you will thank me for this later." The old man said with a smile to him after some extensive glares and arguing.

End Flashback…

'Thanks old man. You were right. I didn't have friends my own age, and now I do and I'm happy.' He thought sincerely to himself. Soon the laughter of the four people settled down and they all sat up again and faced each other with small smiles on there faces.

"Ok guys lets get to business." Naruto stated with seriousness. The other three in the clearing also got serious and listened intently to what there sensei had to say to them.

"As you know the Chunnin exam finals are in one month and you might have to face each other in battle." After Naruto said this each one of the three stiffened some what and Naruto caught it.

"Just because you might have to face your own teammates is not a bad thing actually. To tell the truth it is a good thing. It will just add to the already great teamwork that you have." They each gave him a confused look here.

"Think of it as training guys. You will fight with everything you have and then depending on how good you are you might make Chunnin." They each nodded in understanding.

"Now since we have two months to train and the fact you will be facing each other, we're going to do training a little differently this time."

Here Naruto smiled sadly at the three. "I myself have training to do and it will take up most of the two months. So what I'm going to do is give each of you one B-rank jutsu of your element and show you how it's done. But there's a catch to this."

"What's that sensei?" Shikamaru asked.

"That catch is I'm going to train each of you separately that way you won't know what your teammates can do. This will allow for some surprise in the matches and so you don't know each other like a book. I also want you to try and learn one more of your family jutsu's if you can in the months time."

"This will be the only day I will train with you and it will be the only day you guys train together for the next two months. I want each of you to train separately and work on your own abilities."

"If at some point you need my help in the next two months, just come and find me yourself. Remember though, I will not teach you any more jutsu, but I will help you with the ones you know."

Naruto sat and watch each of his genin think on what he just said. After a full minute they all looked like they understood.

"Good, you all understand what training you're going to do right?" Naruto asked them.

They each nodded. "We can still hang out right?" Choji asked.

Naruto gave a light chuckle and nodded yes. "Hai Choji, you can still hang out, you just can't train together for now."

Choji and the other two looked relieved at the comment. "Ok guys." Naruto said standing up which was followed by his three students.

"Shikamaru you can go first. Follow me." Naruto stated as he nodded to the said person and walking into the forest surrounding the training field.

Shikamaru himself stood up and followed and then looked one last time at his teammates before leaving them.

After walking for a full minute Naruto jumped into the trees and then started to jump from one to another. After another full minute of tree traveling, Naruto finally stopped and landed on the ground. He looked around and nodded and then turned to look at Shikamaru.

"Where'd Shikamaru go?" He asked himself. He looked back the way he came and saw that he was no where to be found.

Scratching the back of his head Naruto sat down and waited for his student to catch up. With in forty seconds Shikamaru came blazing through the tree lines and flew straight over Naruto.

Naruto himself watched him jump right over him and keep going. He looked at his student and just stared. "Well… he must not have seen me?" He thought out loud.

Just when he said that Shikamaru came back through the trees the way he just disappeared and landed twenty feet in front of Naruto.

The second he hit the ground he feel to his knees panting and gasping for breath.

Naruto looked at him with his head tilted to the side questionably. "What took you?" It was a simple question but the reaction he got from Shikamaru was quite funny.

"You fucking prick!... You were going… to fast… I couldn't keep up!" Shikamaru said in-between breaths and then he threw a kunai at Naruto.

Naruto himself looked confused and dodged the kunai by just tilting his head to the side and it flew past his head harmlessly. He thought back to how fast he was going through the trees and realized something.

'A crap! I was going my full speed... ops.' He thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head. Shikamaru saw this and just glared at him.

"Ah… my bad." That comment just made Shikamaru glare more.

Coughing to gain some composure when Shikamaru caught his breath and stood up Naruto started the point of why they moved out this far. "Well now that we're far enough away from the others I can show you the jutsu I wanted to teach you." Shikamaru stopped glaring and started to pay attention again.

Standing straight Naruto started to explain. "All things aside this jutsu is a B-class jutsu that should take you two to three weeks to learn and master enough to use in battle." Naruto started and Shikamaru nodded in understanding.

Seeing Shikamaru's determination he got to what he wanted to hear. "I've already taught you one attack jutsu so now I'm going to teach you a defense jutsu. It's called Futon: Sepuutate." (Whirlwind Shield)

Shikamaru looked confused at this. "There is defense jutsu using wind?"

Naruto just chuckled at him. "Hai Shikamaru, although there aren't that many out there. Anyways this jutsu as its name suggests, creates a shield using wind. To do this attack is actually pretty hard. But you will learn that on your own."

"There are five seals and when you finish the seals you put your hands out to the side in a cup like fashion and then you do a quick spin using your entire body."

Here he paused to catch his breath and then continued. "You only do one spin but the faster the spin the better the results are. When you spin push chakra out of your hands and the seals will guide the wind to cover your entire body in a three foot radius of you. The wind will cover 360 degrees around you so it blocks from all sides. The wind itself circles you at high speed and where your body is at there is zero wind. The use of this jutsu is almost purely defensive. Though if an opponent is close enough you could push them back but it wouldn't hurt that much. Do you understand?"

Shikamaru looked deep in thought and then slowly nodded that he got most of it. Seeing him understand he continued the lesson. "Now I'll show you the jutsu myself." With that he went through the five seals really slow that way Shikamaru could see them easily and learns them.

"Once the seals are done do this with your arms and hands."

Naruto showed him the way to position his arms. His arms were bent just slightly at the elbows and extended to the sides with his hands in the form of a cup to gather water from a stream. Both hands were facing the same direction if put on a circle around Naruto.

"After this spin as fast as you can and stop in the exact same spot you did when you started the spin."

With that Naruto spun once where his body was a blur and then stopped just as quickly. When he spun the wind around him picked up dust and compressed around his body and when he stopped all the dirt and dust exploded outward in a three foot radius and you could see a slight barrier form a circle around his body. For one second all the dirt stayed in the barrier and then it feel harmlessly to the ground again.

"That is the Futon: Sepuutate. (Whirlwind Shield)" Naruto said with a small smile.

"As you might have noticed the jutsu doesn't last long but it has the power to easily block other B-rank jutsu and even some A-rank ones. If you try to stop an attack that is more powerful than the shield; than it will still break through but it will force the attack to hit another part of your body or maybe even miss, if just barley. This jutsu is a last second defense that has to be timed just right." Naruto explained some more.

Shikamaru nodded in understanding. "Now you try it out." Naruto encouraged.

Shikamaru nodded and went through the seals and positioned his body in the same way that Naruto did and then spun. When he spun the dust and rock seemed to get sucked in and then he stopped after a full rotation and the dust and rocks shot out in every direction. Shikamaru looked confused at this.

'Naruto-sensei's rocks stayed floating for one second, but mine blew away. Why?' Shikamaru asked himself.

Then he heard clapping in front of him. He looked up and saw it was Naruto. "Very good Shikamaru, though not perfect, you still did very well for a first try."

"What did I do wrong Naruto-sensei?"

"Well… lets see, you spun three inches to much and then when you did the spin you moved your hands so they weren't perfectly parallel to your body, then you also didn't put enough chakra into the jutsu itself."

Shikamaru thought hard and after a few seconds he nodded and was about to try again when Naruto appeared beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry but you'll have to practice this without me around Shikamaru. But a few more tips. Remember you have to stop exactly were you started and not undershoot or overshoot your position. It has to be perfect. If not the wind will do what yours did. It will either shoot out or have severely less power than the normal shield or it will just suck in the attack and inflict more damage to you. Also, if this jutsu if mastered to an extreme point you can hold it for more than just the one or two seconds it normally is."

Shikamaru nodded in understanding. "Good… now I must get one of the others and show them their jutsu. I'll leave you here and you can do what you want. I'll be around if you need me." With that he disappeared in a swirl of water.

'This might take more than two weeks to get perfect for a battle situation.' Shikamaru thought.

Naruto reappeared in front of Choji and Kiba. "Well Shikamaru's learned his jutsu now, Choji your turn." Not giving them the time to respond Naruto walked out into the forest.

Choji and Kiba looked at each other and shrugged. Choji walked into the forest following their sensei. They walked for a good minute and suddenly Naruto stopped.

When they stooped Naruto was thinking. 'That look on Shikamaru's face was priceless, I want to see that look on the other two's faces also.' With that an evil grin came onto his face.

Choji was wondering why they stopped and was going to ask his sensei but then he jumped into the trees and started to leave him behind. Quickly following him he kept up. If he would have seen that smirk he would have cringed. Even without seeing it though, he still felt a tingle go up his spine.

Soon Choji lost track of Naruto but he was sure he was just out of sight. He kept increasing his speed to catch up but never did. He went his fastest and still no sign of his sensei. After a full minute of running at top speed while pumping chakra into his legs to increase his speed even more, he came to a small clearing and put extra chakra into his jump.

Like Shikamaru, Naruto watched as Choji jumped right over him and kept going. He smirked and wondered how long it would take him to figure out he was back here.

A full twenty seconds later Choji came charging through the trees panting.

"Good you made it." Naruto said cheerfully. Choji jumped to the ground and glared at the same time. Naruto smirked and inside his head he was full out laughing his ass off.

"Why the hell did you ditch me?!" Choji huffed angrily.

Naruto looked confused. "I didn't ditch you Choji. You just couldn't keep up that's all." He got a kunai thrown at him and he caught it with ease.

"Now now Choji, you have to watch that temper of yours. Maybe you've been hanging out with Kiba to much?" Naruto chuckled at the intense glare he received.

"Well, enough of the fun stuff, time to get to work. Like Shikamaru I'm going to teach you another jutsu. You already know an earth defense jutsu, so now I'm going to teach you an earth attack jutsu." At this point Choji stopped glaring and listened intently.

"The jutsu is called Doton: Dorama. (Earth Shot)"

"This jutsu requires quick movements and some what fluid movement. What it does is shoots rocks anywhere from the size of pebbles to boulders, two feet big, out of the ground and then you launch them at the enemy. What you have to do is make the proper seals, and then either slam your hands or feet onto the ground. Hands would be easier to do then your feet. But you can practice that later. Anyways, once you hit the ground, rocks will pop out of the ground."

"Once they are out of the ground hit them as fast as you can with a good amount of force and if you've done the jutsu right, you will be able to launch the rocks at your enemy. The speed, size and density of the rocks all depend on your control and amount of chakra you use. Do you understand this?" Naruto finished up and looked at Choji.

Choji himself was deep in thought and after a few moments nodded his head for Naruto to continue. "Ok, now that you know how the jutsu works, I'll give you a demonstration."

With that Naruto went through five seals really slowly so Choji could memorize them himself.

"After the seals remember to hit the ground as hard as you can without breaking the surface. You want your foot or hand to literally sink into the ground with ease like it was water. If you do this the effect of the jutsu will be substantially more powerful and more under your control. Although I don't expect you to be able to do this perfectly until your Jounin, with genin control you should still pack a really good punch."

With that Naruto hit the ground with his fist and when his fist hit the ground, it didn't make an impact it just sunk into the ground like the earth moved out of the way of the fist and molded around it, but Choji did notice that there were still cracks spreading outwards from the impact for about two feet.

Immediately after the fist sunk into the ground, a piece of rock about one foot round came popping out of the ground and jumped out to two feet in the air. Naruto immediately took his fist out of the ground and with the same fist hit the rock in the center and it rocketed towards a tree completely embedding itself into the tree and making the seven foot wide tree groan.

Choji was struck speechless. Naruto saw this and smirked. "As you can see, even with its flaws, it is still quite the powerful jutsu." Choji could only node his head in total agreement.

"Now there are a few things I want you to understand about this jutsu." Naruto started. "This jutsu is by all means to only be used by a person with the chakra element earth. Without the element the jutsu can not be mastered. You noticed that I used the same fist to hit the ground and hit the rock right?" Naruto asked and Choji nodded.

"Good, the reason I did that was because I had to. If one doesn't have the element earth then the jutsu is not suited for them. You do, so this attack is perfect for you. You see once you have mastered this jutsu you will be able to hit the ground with any of your hands or feet and then launch it with any hand or foot you want. Not the same one like I did." Naruto said confusing Choji.

"Why could you not do it then Naruto-sensei?" Choji asked truly confused.

"Choji…this jutsu is in all actuality a Jounin level attack when mastered, but when not it is chunnin level." Naruto said with a completely serious voice.

Choji was startled but nodded none the less eager to learn how it worked.

Seeing the eagerness Naruto continued on. "Like I said, it requires the chakra element of earth, but more precisely Nature manipulation of earth. I don't expect you to even start to get Nature manipulation until you are high chunnin, but you need the potential to master this jutsu. Your chakra with the help of the hand seals will mold your normal chakra into the earth chakra you need, giving you the necessary things to master this jutsu eventually. Right now you can only hope to do what I did, but some day you will be able to master this jutsu completely beyond anything I could ever do." Naruto said with a smile to Choji.

"If this requires such control then how will I be able to do it?" Choji asked again.

Naruto just chuckled. "To do what I did requires just lots of practice and more chakra then the normal attack does. This jutsu is considered B-rank for normal people but if you are able to master it, it is considered a high A-rank jutsu because of the speed, density, and diversity you are able to launch the rocks at. Right now it is perfect for you. You will also be able to grow into the jutsu later on. Now I want you to try it."

Choji could only node dumbly that his sensei had this much faith in him but took a confident breath and got ready. He did the five required seals and then punched the ground. His fist melted into the ground to about a centimeter before it started to get resistance and the rest was forced.

Then a rock about the size of a fist came out of the ground and as fast as he could, Choji hit it with his same hand and it went rocketing towards another tree. The rock shattered on impact with the tree but still left a dent the size of the fist only it was two centimeters in depth.

"Very well done Choji." Naruto praised him.

"What are you talking about well done? I barely scratched the tree and mine was way smaller then yours." Choji complained disappointed.

"Nonsense Choji, my first try on the jutsu I only made one the size of my finger tip. With practice yours will get better and by the time the two months are over, I have confidence yours will be just as big as mine if not bigger."

Choji brightened up at hearing this. "Thanks Sensei." He said with a genuine smile.

Naruto just wave him off. "You will have to practice this jutsu a lot to get it perfect. A few tips now. The more chakra the bigger the bolder but to big and it won't matter and be weak in density. You have to find the balance. You also have to compress your chakra into a tight ball if you can in the ground. The tighter the ball the harder the density the rock will be. You have to balance every one of these things."

"Good luck on this jutsu Choji. Practice hard until we meet again." With that Naruto disappeared with a swirl of flames.

'I will master this jutsu one day Naruto-sensei. But I want to at least get to your level by the time the finals start.' Choji thought with determination and started to practice again.

Naruto appeared in front of Kiba and Akamaru and saw that they were sitting against the tree. Naruto walked up to him. "Kiba lets go somewhere else. This place isn't big enough for the jutsu I want to teach you."

"Alright." Kiba responded with Akamaru barking a reply too.

With that Naruto jumped into the trees and speed away with Kiba following easily. That is until Naruto speed up and Kiba also speed up but he noticed even with pumping chakra into his legs he was loosing distance with Naruto fast.

"Naruto, wait up!" He yelled at his sensei only for it to fall onto deaf ears.

"Kami damn it!" Kiba shouted as he tried to catch up but no matter what he couldn't and soon lost track of Naruto.

After a full minute of running he saw a clearing up ahead and Akamaru barked that he smelled that Naruto was in it. Kiba jumped down into the clearing and dropped to his knees.

Naruto noticed that he was panting and smirked. "What took you so long Kiba?"

"You teme! Why'd you leave me and Akamaru behind?!" Kiba yelled only for him to look up and see Naruto cleaning his ear with his pinky.

"You say something Kiba?" Naruto asked nonchalantly. 'Damn that's fun to do. Now I know why Kakashi always does it to Gai.' He thought to himself.

When Kiba heard his reply he growled and charged at Naruto intending to hit him. Right when his fist was about to connect Naruto leaned to the side and grabbed his arm and flung him over his shoulder. Kiba landed on his back.

"Now now Kiba, no need to get hostile for not being able to keep up." Naruto said in a scolding manner. Kiba just growled again.

Seeing another confrontation going to happen soon, Naruto just straightened up and cleared his throat. "Now that were both here, let's get to the training." Naruto said in a more serious voice while on the inside laughing his ass off for doing that to all three of his students and getting them all riled up because of it.

Kiba also stood up and listened intently to what he was going to learn. Seeing this Naruto started the lesson. "Now I've already taught you a lightning attack, so now I'm going to teach you a lightning defense jutsu. This jutsu is actually pretty hard and will take some major work to master." Kiba listened even more intently now.

"This jutsu is called Raiton: Gekitai. (Lightning Repulse)"

"As the name suggests is uses lightning to repel attacks. In essence it creates a gravity field using your own chakra and if done right creates an electrical field and pushes back attacks. The jutsu uses five hand seals and after done you put two points of your body on opposite sides of you. For instance, put your arms to the side of your body and put the electric charge around both arms. The two currents will push against each other creating a field that pushes everything outside that field out. Do you understand so far?" Naruto asked

Kiba looked deep in thought and after a full two minutes nodded his head yes. "Good, I see Iruka still teaches physics at the academy then." Naruto said, getting another node from Kiba.

"Now this jutsu can block almost any B-rank and some A-rank attacks. But you have to time it perfectly. This defense is not to be used for long, at most five seconds unless you have great control of your chakra nature, which you don't right now. I don't expect you to even attempt chakra nature until your high chunnin." Kiba nodded his head at this understanding this some what.

"Now to make this jutsu easier to work, you should use metal objects like your kunai to put the charge into. This is good because it is a defense and an attack if you can manage it."

"When you put the charge into the kunai they will repel each other and put a field around them. In other words what ever you put the charge into or around will repel each other. So it doesn't cover your entire body, but only that one section. But remember that you must have the two kunai opposite of each other at all times other wise the field is lost. Are you starting to understand that this will not be an easy jutsu Kiba?" Naruto asked with a serious voice.

Kiba answered with a serious voice to. "Hai Naruto-sensei."

"Good. Now I want you to promise me you will _never_ try this jutsu on any of your body parts until you start to learn about nature manipulation." Naruto said with the utmost serious voice Kiba had heard him speak of since the bridge in wave.

"Why can't I use it on my body like you said is possible?" Kiba asked.

Naruto looked him straight in the eye and answered. "If you do try and some how mess up then you will shock your own body part and it could do anything from burn marks to a nerve stun that could last from five minutes to an entire day." Kiba gulped and agreed to never try it until he learned this nature manipulation Naruto was talking about.

When he agreed Naruto looked him right in the eye and knew he understood the dangers and nodded to him. "Thank you Kiba. I don't want a friend getting hurt." Kiba's eyes widened for a split second but Naruto didn't catch it.

'He thinks of me as a friend.' He thought startled but then that turned into a grin. 'Ya Naruto, were friends, so are Shikamaru and Choji to.' He thought to himself.

"Well lets get started; because I'm not lightning natured I can only use this jutsu with kunai also. You will eventually be able to use it better than I can with time and practice. Now there are five seals, then you put the kunai opposite of each other and swing the kunai at the incoming attack, but always have the other kunai opposite of the one you're using."

Kiba nodded in understanding. "This jutsu gives the illusion that you deflected a B-A-ranked jutsu with only your kunai making the opponent startled and might give you an opportunity to attack. To practice the jutsu you will need some ones help to attack you. You can have Akamaru throw stuff at you or have a Kage Bunshin attack you or throw stuff at you. Now watch closely."

With that Naruto made one Kage Bunshin and then he tossed two kunai into the air and made the five seals slowly so Kiba could follow them with ease and memorize them. The second the seals were done Naruto jerked his hands out and grabbed the kunai in the air.

Naruto spread his hands to the side and then Kiba saw a small spark the size of a finger nail go off on each kunai. Then the kunai suddenly jerked to the opposite sides of each other still in Naruto's hands. The clone Naruto tossed a kunai at Naruto and Naruto just waved his own kunai at the incoming one.

The second the kunai got with in two feet of the one in Naruto's hand Kiba saw it divert slightly and slow down and then suddenly be pushed back to the side and harmlessly go in another direction.

With the task done the clone Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto then looked like he was straining his muscles and then pulled the two kunai closer together and he was literally shaking from the muscle strain.

When the kunai were two and a half feet away from each other Naruto let go of one and it shot off and embedded itself into a tree all the way until it disappeared into the seven foot wide tree trunk.

Kibas jaw dropped at the display of power both defense and offence the attack had.

"Now you've seen the jutsu Kiba." Naruto said rubbing his arms a little.

"Are you ok, that last part looked like it hurt you?" Kiba asked seeing his sensei and friend hurting some what.

"Na, I'm fine. It just takes a lot of strength to pull those two magnets together with out the control needed for the jutsu." Naruto said off handedly.

"So you need a lot of control to do this jutsu?" Kiba asked worriedly.

"No, not that type of control Kiba, nature manipulation control. If you have mastered nature manipulation of lightning then you can control the magnetic force of the two magnets easier and make it less, then increase it right when you plan to launch it, that way it is easier to pull the two kunai together and then launch them. I don't have a lightning nature so I can't do that. So I had to use my own strength."

"Oh, I get it. So I'll be able to do that one day easily then?" Kiba asked hopefully.

Naruto grinned at him. "Yep!" Kiba grinned back.

"Ok now, right after you do the seals, you want to direct your chakra to the point on your body you want to turn into a magnet. This would be the hands but seeing as there is metal in your hands and that conducts electricity easier it will go there. Now when putting chakra into the kunai, don't put to much other wise the kunai will repel each other too much and it will fall out of your hands. To little and it won't repel the attack. You have to find the balancing point. Now I want you to try." Naruto said happily.

Kiba grinned and stood up. He pulled out two kunai and tossed them into the air and did the five seals.

"Raiton: Gekitai. (Lightning Repulse)"

He caught the kunai and Naruto tossed his own kunai at Kiba. He went to block and did. The incoming kunai got two inches from his and then slowed down and repelled it to his upper left. The kunai landed harmlessly on the ground.

"Very good for a first time Kiba." Kiba grinned back and said thanks.

"Remember that the kunai repel each other so when you go and repel the attack move the other one, the opposite one, to the side slightly so you can direct the attack coming at you where you want to. Also the seals are set up so the current only lasts for five seconds max. You can make it last shorter by cutting the chakra off, but for longer add the ram seal at the end. That will make it last as long as you keep pumping chakra into it. But be warned that this is a B-rank jutsu for a reason, so it does drain chakra pretty fast." Kiba nodded again to the advice.

"Now I'll leave you alone to practice this Kiba. I'll see you around." With that Naruto disappeared in a swirl of fire.

Kiba looked at the two kunai in his hands and then at Akamaru. "We're so going to kick ass Akamaru!" Kiba grinned at his friend and companion and Akamaru barked in agreement.

'I'll master this jutsu by the time the finals come around sensei. That's a promise!' Kiba thought to himself.

Naruto reappeared in the shopping distract of Konoha with a swirl of flames. When he could see exactly were he was he saw that he was in the middle of the street with people that had relieved looks on there faces.

Scratching the back of his neck Naruto laughed nervously. "Sorry for worrying everyone of an attack." Every one that was nervous was now relieved and continued on like nothing happened.

Naruto then saw the ramen restaurant that he and his team went to once in awhile. He was about to walk away when his stomach decided for him.

He walked into the place and took a seat at the counter in the front of the place. "Yo Ayame-chan." He said as he sat down with a smile.

Ayame herself smiled and they made small talk before he ordered some beef ramen with a side dish of three dango sticks. She happily got his order and within ten minutes his meal was in front of him. He ate it with gusto. After eating he headed out of the shop and after taking his fourth step he heard a screeching from a bird.

Looking up he saw a bird circling above him and it came swooping down. He held out his arm and the falcon landed on it with ease. He noticed it had a message tied to the leg and took it off, then sent the bird away with a swish of his arm.

'The old man must want to see me or something.' He thought to himself. With that he opened up the parchment to read what was inside.

_Naruto,_

_Jiraiya is in town again. If you want to talk or catch up with him you know where to go._

_Sarutobi_

With that read Naruto made a ram seal and the note in his hand burst into flames do to the seal on the piece of paper. 'So Jiraiya-sensei is in town again, sweet.' Naruto thought to himself as he started to walk the opposite way he first intended and was now heading to the bath house and spa.

Across town at a certain office there was an old man reading up on some important information.

"Hokage-sama?" A woman asked as she walked in with a stack of papers.

She heard some shuffling and looked up. She saw that Sarutobi was surrounded by two clouds of smoke on each side of him. She also saw that he was trying to wipe away a line of drool from his chin.

Coughing he tried to recompose himself. "Yes what did you need Mai-san?"

"Ah nothing Hokage-sama just brought in some more papers for you to sign." She said with a smile.

"If that is all, than thank you, you can leave after you set them on the table." He told her kindly. She gave him a weird look but left none the less.

When she left Sarutobi sighed in relief. "That was to close for comfort. I thought she almost saw my last book."

Then he took out his precious last book from his draw and looked every where possible again. Seeing it was clear he made two Kage Bunshins and then started to read again.

Outside the office, Mai steeled her gaze and went up in a poof of smoke.

She reappeared at the Sarutobi household mansion. She went up to the door and knocked.

A minute later a women of about sixty five years old answered the door. She had brown gray hair and some wrinkles on her face but for her age she looked good.

"Mai-san, what are you doing here?" She asked kindly with a small smile.

Mai had a serious face on and she bowed once to the women. "I'm sorry Ayako-sama but this is not a pleasant visit." Her voice was serious also.

"What's this about then?" She asked in a confused and slightly scared voice.

"Your husband."

Ayako felt tears starting to form in her eyes at what could have happened. "Is he ok?" She asked scared.

Mai's eyes widened to the point where they looked like they would pop out and she suddenly felt horrible. "No! No! Your husband is just fine!" She said franticly.

Ayako sighed in relief at hearing this. "Thank Kami-sama! I was so worried." She sighed and then got her heart to stop beating so fast.

After a few seconds she was ready to talk again. "So what was it you had to talk to me about that involves my husband about now? Try to be more pacific this time please."

Mai chuckled an apologetic laugh. "Sorry about that, I really came by to tell you about your husband's books."

"Books?" She asked questionably.

"Ah… _thee_ books that we burned two days ago. I caught him with another one today in the office." She said with contempt.

Ayako narrowed her eyes and had a hard look on her face. "Thank you for telling me this little bit of information Mai-san. I'll be sure you get a bonus this month." With that she disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Five minutes after Mai left his office, Sarutobi's door opened up very slowly and he saw a kunai tip pushing the door open. He saw this and prepared a kunai under the table just in case and put his orange covered book on the table and grabbed a piece of paper to look normal.

When the door was all the way open he saw it was just his wife Ayako at the door. He sighed in relief. Then he remembered the book that was still on the table.

He went to grab it when his wife suddenly appeared beside him and grabbed his book before he could tough it.

Coughing he tried to play innocent. "Honey, it isn't my book, I swear it! It… it was… it was Kakashi's! Ya Kakashi's last book. He had me holding it so the other people wouldn't find it." He tried pitifully.

Sadly for him his wife didn't buy it for one second. "Do you really expect me to believe that?!" She asked with such a tone it made Sarutobi flinch.

"I… hai?" His response was meek and pathetic.

She narrowed her eyes at him and started to walk out with the book in her hands.

Sarutobi sighed in relief for not getting reprimanded.

Ayako heard this sigh and grinned evilly.

Sarutobi felt a chill go up his spine and shuddered. "Darling." He heard his wife say in a sickly sweat voice that made him shudder again.

"H-hai."

She turned to him fully with a look that promised pain. He cringed slightly. "If I ever catch you with another one of these books again, you sleeping on the couch will be the least of your worries. Do I make myself clear?!"

"H-hai Ayako-chan." He said weakly.

She gave him one last pointed look and then left the office with a happy smile on her face with a new book to burn.

Sarutobi was left in his office without his precious book. He slumped in his chair and he lost his control on his Kage Bunshins and they dispelled.

With the combined memory of three Sarutobi's being yelled at he cringed again. He shook his head and a few tears came out of his eyes.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't save you my precious 'Icha Icha Paradise.' You deserved better." He cried and grabbed some papers and started to sign them completely forgetting about the way to defeat this pure evil called paper work.

Author Notes…

Done with the chapter, I hope you liked it. I explained what happened with the bet and I added quite a bit of funny stuff in there also. I thought of that stuff and HAD to put it in this story.

As always I will answer any questions you have gladly in a reply or PM.

For those looking forward to the Naruto and Haku date, you don't have to wait long, next chapter is the date and some other stuff I have planned. If you're smart you will know by just reading this chapter. I told what Naruto would be doing for the next two months.

I would also like to thank those who reviewed last chapter. I had about eighty some reviews but five awesome reviews that helped my writing tons. They complained about something that I was doing wrong and they told me how I can improve on that problem or fix it. Those are good flames. I love seeing those. They help me out more than anything else. Thanks again for those reviews.

Battousai222


	13. Of Elements and Kisses

The much awaited chapter is finally out. Sorry for the wait but life has gotten in the way. This has the event that you all have been waiting for. _Please_ tell me what you think about it. Is it good? Bad? OK? Suck? I _really_ want to know. I had a really hard time writing the date between Haku and Naruto for this chapter. I re-wrote this thing four times from scratch before I was happy with it. This is the first time I have ever done any sort of romance and I want to know if I did ok on it or not. Thanks for the responses I hope to get for this.

Also thanks for the reviews last chapter and this is finally a 1,000 review story. You people make me so happy. Now onto what you all want to do… read the chapter and story that has become a hit… I think…

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Of Elements and Kisses

When Naruto got to the hot springs he didn't bother to look around for him. He knew Jiraiya to well to have to look for him. No he paid to get in and when he was inside he went right to the men's side and looked at the wall that separated the men's side from the women's side.

When he looked at the wooden fence he saw an old man around the age of fifty crouching down by it and looking through a small hole in the fence to the other side.

The man had long white hair that easily went to mid back. On his back was a huge scroll. His face had red lines going from his eyes to his cheeks that were some kind of paint that looked permanent. On his forehead he had a metal plate with two small horns coming out of the top corners of it. It resembled the Konoha head band but instead of the leaf symbol, his had the kanji for oil on it. He wore dark green-blue pants and a loose shirt. He had a red jacket on him that was not tied up and he wore ninja sandals.

When Naruto saw him many things went through his head. Disappointment for having a pervert for a friend, angry at him for peaking at nude women, and happiness to see his uncle figure again.

Sadly for Jiraiya though, Naruto saw the pervert more than anything else at this point in time. So concealing his chakra as best as he could he walked up behind him.

Once he was right behind him he taped him on the shoulder and spoke when he was turning his head. "Pervert." Just loud enough for the people on the other side of the wall to hear them and quite down so they could listen in on this conversation.

"Wha." Jiraiya started to say when he turned fully and saw who it was and blinked once before he realized it was Naruto. "Naruto! How have you been my boy?!" He asked as he patted him on the back rather hard and stood up.

"I've been fine Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto replied happily.

"As I've heard, you've been doing well for yourself I hear, even got your self a girlfriend." Jiraiya said with a sly grin on his face.

Naruto didn't like that grin and knew he was going to never hear the end of this if it continued. So he did what he always did. He changed the conversation in his favor.

"I see you've been doing good spying on the women on the other side of this wall also. Your next perverted book should be out any time now." Naruto said with a small blush and smirk.

Jiraiya paled when he heard this and looked at his student like he had a death wish. "What are you trying to do brat! Let the women know I'm peeping on them?!" He asked rather loudly.

Suddenly there was a huge killing intent coming from behind him and then the sounds of shuffling were heard. Jiraiya looked behind himself at the other side and then turned back to yell at Naruto when he noticed something.

Instead of his student being there, there were about twenty women there looking like they wanted to kill.

Jiraiya instantly paled and put his hands up in defense. "Now now ladies, it's not what it looks like. I was-" and that is as far as he got to explain before the women started to ascend on him.

Naruto himself was up in the trees outside the springs and could hear the pained yells of an old pervert being beaten to death. He chuckled to himself. "You deserve every hit ero-sennin." He said to himself.

Five minutes later the sounds of a beating were over and Naruto went to investigate. He found his sensei in a small crater with many bruises and cuts.

Then out of no were he jumped up out of the crater and stood up like nothing happened. He had almost zero cuts and bruises on him, only a small bruise on his lower arm. Then he looked at Naruto and he was instantly by his side.

Before Naruto could react he was hit over the head with a fist and sent to the ground. "You damn brat!" He yelled at his downed student.

Naruto instantly got up clutching his sore head and pointed an accusing finger at Jiraiya. "What the hell was that for ero-sennin?!" He yelled at him.

Jiraiya instantly took offence and pointed an accusing finger of his own at Naruto. "Don't call me that!" He yelled also.

They both had a stare down with heated glares and finally after what seemed like forever they both burst out laughing.

"It's good to see you brat." Jiraiya said happily.

"You to sensei." Naruto said also happily.

"So what are you doing here anyways? I doubt it's just to catch up on old times." Jiraiya said turning slightly serious. From the calm mood he was in before.

Naruto also became serious some what. "I need your help perfecting a jutsu I've been working on for a while now." Naruto said with an all serious voice.

"I see, what's the jutsu you need help on?"

"An elemental rasengan." Naruto said and Jiraiya looked startled but quickly turned completely serious.

"You're trying to master the final form of the rasengan then?" He asked surprised.

"Hai."

"How far have you gotten?"

"Let's talk some where else. Meet me at the river by the water fall."

"Alright."

With that both of them disappeared into thin air with either a poof of smoke or a swirl of fire.

Five minutes later they both showed up at the water fall and they both concentrated and looked for anyone else that could be around. After thoroughly looking around they nodded to each other and went to sit down on a rock by the river.

"So…" Jiraiya started. "I hear you beat Kakashi but passed out from exhaustion seconds later and it was called a tied in an all out match against Kakashi, is it true?"

"Hai." Naruto replied looking away some.

Jiraiya grinned at his embarrassed student. "That's great! Your now one of the strongest people in Konoha Naruto."

Naruto himself just chuckled uncomfortably. "Ya…" Naruto said not really thinking about it at all. His mind was else where.

Seeing this Jiraiya decided to change the subject. "So who's this girl you like?" He said with an emotionless voice as to not upset his friend and student.

Naruto for his part blushed slightly. "She's no one; we're not even girlfriend and boyfriend. Just friends."

Jiraiya looked at his student from the corner of his eyes and could tell he was thinking about something, most likely this girl.

"What's her name?"

"Haku."

There was a tense silence for a good minute until it was broke by Jiraiya. "You like her, don't you?" His voice was still emotionless so he could get answers from his apprentice.

Naruto didn't answer he just looked at the waterfall in front of them and stared.

That look was more than enough for Jiraiya to know the answer was yes.

"She's not like the others you've gone out with, is she?"

"No…"

Just when he was about to speak up again he was cut off. "Listen…" Naruto started letting out a sigh. "Let's just drop this ok. I don't want to talk about this."

Jiraiya just looked at his student disappointedly. 'If she's different then the others, and could actually care for you Naruto, you should really try to get to know her better.' He thought to himself sadly.

"Alright, you said you wanted my help to master the elemental Rasengan. I really can't help you much. I can't even begin to do the jutsu, so I don't know how much help I will be." Jiraiya said with a shrug.

Naruto stood up and stretched really quickly and then moved away from Jiraiya and stood in the clearing a fair distance away from him.

"I know." Naruto began. "I don't expect you to teach it to me. I just need some tips and help figuring out how to combine it right."

Jiraiya nodded in understanding indicating him to continue, he did. "As you know already, I have three elemental affinities: wind, water, and fire, in that order as which one I have the best control over with wind being the best." Jiraiya nodded again not understanding where this was going.

"Well, for the last month I've been trying to figure out how to mix my elemental chakra with my Rasengan, and sadly it hasn't been going very good. I first tried wind seeing as it is my strongest. That was a bad mistake. The second I put it into the Rasengan it cut my arm up pretty bad." Naruto rubbed an imaginary wound on his arm thinking of the injury and felt the phantom pain.

"I was in the hospital for two days with med nins healing me for four hours straight. I got there with my right arm being a bloody stump." Jiraiya flinched remembering Minato attempting the same thing and having his arm torn to shreds. If it was anything like that… he didn't even want to think about it.

"Needless to say I wasn't really enthusiastic to try wind chakra again." Naruto said with a shiver. Jiraiya couldn't blame him.

"After that I tried to use my fire element seeing as I have a substantial amount of experience with that because I created Kaizuki and can use it with ease now." Naruto explained.

Jiraiya nodded in understanding. 'It did make sense to try fire next, because with his experience he already was able to hold fire in his hand with relative ease, so why not try it with Rasengan?' He pondered to himself.

"Well that really didn't work out entirely well either. When I tried it the first time it literally blew up in my face. I was launched back at least thirty feet. I really don't know for sure. But what I do know is that it burnt me severely. My entire arm had third degree burns and part of my chest had second degree burns also." Jiraiya for his part didn't flinch at all. He's seen worse in his life but he still felt for his student.

"I was found unconscious within twelve minutes when some Anbu came by after hearing the explosion. They took me to the hospital immediately. It took the doctors six hours of constant work to heal the burns and then I was forced to stay in bed for another two days for chakra exhaustion and they wanted to give me some mental tests." Here Naruto noticeably scowled and muttered a few things under his breath that Jiraiya didn't hear.

"Why'd they want to give you a mental test?" He asked curious.

"They thought I was injuring my arm on purpose. They thought I was an extreme case of self injury for pleasure. The nerve! I would never do something like that. The damn teme's held me in that hospital in restraint until I finally got it into their thick skulls that I was training and hurt myself perfecting a jutsu. Do you know how many damn questions they asked! Ah!" Naruto was in a rant with an angry expression on his face walking back and forth kicking dirt off the ground as he walked.

Jiraiya was watching him have his tantrum until his brain finally understood what Naruto just said. At first he was confused, then as Naruto went on it got harder to not laugh at him. When he started mumbling and cursing them under his breath he couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

Naruto stopped mid rant and looked over at Jiraiya who was currently laughing his ass off. He blinked a few times, and then became enraged at him. 'How dare he laugh at me over this?! I'm going to kill him!' Naruto thought as he let his entire killing intent focus on Jiraiya alone.

The instance the killing intent hit him; Jiraiya stopped laughing and turned towards Naruto. He saw that he was angry, no that was an understatement when he started to do seals for a jutsu. "Oh shit…" Was all he got out before he had to dodge a huge fire dragon that was heading straight for him.

He looked behind himself after he landed and saw that the dragon completely melted the rock he was sitting on. 'Holy crap! He had to put over five times the amount of chakra needed into that attack to melt that huge rock!' He thought to himself.

He looked back at Naruto and saw he was panting and glaring at him heatedly. He quickly put his hands up in defense shaking them wildly. "I won't laugh any more I promise." He said hurriedly.

Naruto glared for a few more seconds then turned away and took calming breaths. After calming down he turned back around and grinned sheepishly scratching the back of his head nervously. "Sorry about that." He chuckled nervously.

Jiraiya just waved him off. "Now if you're done with your tantrum; continue explaining please." He said teasingly.

Naruto just chuckled again slightly. If the other Jounin saw him have a tantrum, they would never let him live it down.

"Right, where was I?" He asked

"You just explained how the fire elemental rasengan blew up in your face and the injures you got." Jiraiya reminded him.

"Right, after I got out of the hospital, I didn't attempt anything for two weeks. I was thinking of ways to make it work. I came up with a few but nothing seems to work, no matter what I do it always blows up in my face. Luckily after my first experience I grew smarter. I used Kage Bunshins to manipulate some water jutsu to cover my entire arm and chest when I tried it again that way I can avoid all major damage, and I only get a few small burns that still got through."

Jiraiya seemed in deep thought for a few minutes thinking to himself about what he just heard. 'Interesting… the wind is the same as Minato's results, but unlike Minato, Naruto here has three natures unlike his one, so he can experiment more. The fire one though…I'll have to see it to prove my guess though.' He thought to himself as he looked at Naruto.

"Alright I think I know what's happening but I want you to prove my point. And for that to happen I want to see the fire rasengan." He said in a serious voice.

Naruto looked confused but shrugged. "Sure, if it will help you out." With that Naruto walked away again and stood in the middle of the clearing, clear of Jiraiya by at least one hundred feet.

When Naruto was set, he took a calming breath.

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto said as he made the cross seal and three Naruto's appeared on his sides. Each nodded to him and surrounded him in a triangle formation.

Jiraiya noticed that those three clones had a lot more chakra then needed. They had enough chakra for a couple B-ranked jutsu each.

One of them made some seals. "Suiton: Bakusui Shoha." (Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave)

When the seals were done the clone opened its mouth and water poured out of his mouth like a torrent. When there was easily six square feet of the water out the clone stopped.

When the water was coming out of the clones mouth the other two made some seals and touched the water before it could hit the ground. "Suiton: Koutetsu." (Water Armor)

When there hands touched the water it stopped falling and just flouted in the air with there hands inside it. The second the last clone stopped the on slot of water he made the same seals as the other two did and put his hands in the water also.

With all three working together they moved the water to the originals body and made the water cover his right arm and his right side of his chest. After it was covered they compressed it until it was one centimeter thin and looked like moving armor of water to anyone else.

Jiraiya watched this with amazement. 'He hasn't even tried the elemental Rasengan yet and he's already using nature manipulation of water on his body. Well his clones are, but still that is amazing and to such a degree? Even with the seals for the jutsu he created it would still take a lot of concentration and manipulation of the water. That's why he has three clones; it takes three minds to manipulate even that small portion of water to such a degree. I don't think he'll ever get more proficient than that, but a person with only water nature might be able to do there entire body with enough control and practice.' He analyzed and thought to himself.

With the water on his body Naruto extended his right arm in front of him. Each clone was standing behind him with there hands on his back holding the water. Naruto was pointed in the direction of Jiraiya so he could see.

He held his hand out and the Rasengan formed like normal with in two seconds easily. He looked at it and nodded. With that he closed his eyes and concentrated.

From where Jiraiya was he could see Naruto close his eyes. Thirty seconds later he could see sweat starting to form on his forehead. Then he squinted his eyes and he saw a small spark start to form on the rim of the Rasengan and it moved out along the sides and around the orb or pure chakra.

Jiraiya looked really hard at it and Naruto. He could see Naruto was really having a hard time controlling it. He was sweating profusely and he was gritting his teeth together.

Then he noticed something. The fire from the beginning was moving erratically and jumping all over the place. It was also only moving around the orb of chakra, not in it, but it was getting faster and faster.

Then with out any warning what so ever, the fire rasengan blew up. The fire encompassed Naruto's entire arm and part of his chest and the explosion of fire and chakra sent Naruto sailing back at high speeds.

The second the explosion happened the clones were blown up and Naruto's water lost its control but it served its purpose.

After skidding on the ground for a few feet Naruto came to a stop and just laid there. Jiraiya was instantly by his side looking him over. He was panting from exertion and he had minor burns on him that the most beginner of med Nins could heal. He sighed in relief.

"You ok there brat." Even though he said brat it was lased with worry.

"Ya… just give… me a few… minutes." Naruto panted out exhausted.

"Alright."

After waiting a full five minutes Naruto finally was able to get his breathing under control completely and sit up with out wincing.

"Well what do you think? As you saw, I have no control over the fire what so ever and it takes everything in me just to keep it from exploding on me." Naruto said with a sigh.

Jiraiya looked at him and put his hand on his shoulder. "That may be true but I actually came up with a few things to help you out."

"Really?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Yep." Jiraiya grinned. "First things first. Wind is out of the question. It's just too destructive to use until you have better understanding of how the elemental Rasengan works." Naruto nodded in understanding to this.

'That's fine with me. I don't want my arm cut up again like that' He thought with a shudder.

"Fire is also out of the question until you can figure out some other way to add it to the sphere."

"Why?"

"Because, from what I saw the fire was out of control. The natural wind that the Rasengan makes the flames hard to control by itself, but add to the fact that the inside of the Rasengan pushes chakra out in every direction, it also causes you to unconsciously make the fire go in every direction while trying to maintain it to the sphere."

Naruto nodded in understanding to that. Jiraiya continued. "That's why the explosion was so small. In theory the explosion should have been at least six feet big not two feet."

Naruto looked shocked at this. He could have blown himself up! Jiraiya saw this. "From your look you understand how luckily you've been. The only reason it was so small was because the fire was still on the outer shell and not part of the actual Rasengan. Thus it only exploded the outside and not the actual Rasengan."

Naruto listened intently to what Jiraiya was saying. He was now very grateful he didn't think about adding the fire or wind for that matter to the actual Rasengan and only the outside.

"Now that you can't use either wind or fire for now, you're left with water. This is actually good in many ways."

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why would that be good?"

"Well for starters, you'll only get wet when it blows up in your face. At most it might make some shallow cuts. Secondly you'll be able to add the actual water to the Rasengan itself because of waters natural abilities." He stopped here.

"And what would that be Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto asked intrigued.

"Water has the ability to flow with what ever it's in, let's say a ball of moving chakra, so in theory it should work for the Rasengan also."

Naruto grinned at this. He never thought of it like that, now he might actually be able to get this thing down.

"Thanks Jiraiya-sensei, you have no idea how much help you've been." Naruto said sincerely.

"Ba…" Jiraiya waved him off. "Come on lets get you to the hospital to get those burns healed though." Naruto nodded and instead of teleporting they just walked and chatted on the way.

After a while they got to the conversation of girls again. "You know Naruto." Jiraiya started off. "Not all girls are fan girls. There are some good one out there."

Naruto said nothing to him to even acknowledge he heard him. Jiraiya sighed. "Look brat, this girl Haku you've told me about, she sounds nice you really should try to get to know her better."

Naruto again said nothing. They walked in silence for a few minutes until Jiraiya had enough. He grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and stopped him. He turned him around so Naruto was facing him.

"Look, you either ask the girl out and see where it goes, or you can continue to think about it and never know what you could have had between the two of you." Jiraiya said in a serious voice for once when talking about girls.

Naruto looked at him then at the ground. "I can't."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at him. "You can't?" He got no reply.

"If you're too much of a coward to even ask a girl you like out, then I have no reason to train you any more. I don't train cowards." With that last comment he disappeared with the shunshin.

Naruto looked at where he was just standing and then continued to walk completely uncaring for where he wound up.

Later that night he was laying in his bed thinking about the day. He was happy that he might actually be able to do the elemental Rasengan now but at the same time he couldn't concentrate.

'Lets see, first I make a Rasengan, then I will add the water to the exact middle to-' he thought to himself but was interrupted by, 'Coward' He heard his mind speak to him in his head using Jiraiya's voice.

"Ah! Shut up already!" He said out loud to no one in particular. He was just frustrated.

'Why won't you ask Haku out Naruto?' He heard the voice again. He grunted and flipped over in bed trying to ignore the voice.

Sadly it was for not as every time he tried to think of how to accomplish the jutsu successfully he kept hearing Jiraiya's voice calling him a coward and asking him why he wouldn't ask Haku out on a date.

'Damn it! Why does he care anyways? It's my life, it's not like she likes me…' He thought to himself as he saw her blushing in the hospital and her smiling when he would talk to her.

After seeing her smile he just sat there and let his mind drift. After a while he saw her smile again and he gave a slight smile also.

"Maybe Jiraiya is right… am I being a coward?" He asked himself.

'Coward.' Jiraiya's voice sounded in his head again.

"I am being a coward… aren't I?" He sighed still sitting up in his bed.

"Damn it Jiraiya you just had to be my conscious didn't you?!" With that statement he plopped down onto his bed, his mind drifted off to sleep with a contented sigh.

He never noticed the white haired man shimmer into existence and leave the porch by his window.

The next day came around relatively fast for Naruto. He got up took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and thought of training to do for the day, when he remembered last night.

"Haku…" He let the word drift off his tongue and headed for the door to go find a certain black haired women with brown eyes.

He eventually ended up at her apartment and looked at the door in the middle of the hall. He hesitated but then steeled his resolve. He went up the path to the door and stood at the one he knew was Haku's. He took a big breath and let it out slowly.

With resolve he knocked on the door and after a few shuffling sounds he heard foot steps.

The closer the footsteps got to the door the more his heart beat quickened. When the footsteps stopped the door swung open.

Standing there was none other than… "Zabuza?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side slightly.

Zabuza looked at him and grunted. "Hai, it's me brat, what ya want?" He asked gruffly.

"Isn't this Haku's apartment?" He asked confused. 'Did I mix their apartments up?' He thought to himself.

"Hai this is her apartment, what do you want?" He asked getting irritated.

"I wanted to talk to Haku, is she home?"

Zabuza looked at him and shook his head no. "She left twenty minutes ago, why do you need to talk to her? Is it a mission?" He asked.

"No, no, I… ah… just wanted to talk to her that's all." He knew he sounded nervous and he looked at Zabuza. He saw him giving him a critical eye.

"Oh… what do you want to talk about Naruto?" He asked slowly.

"Well… I… hey, why are you in her apartment anyways? I thought you two lived in different ones now?" He asked trying to change the subject.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't avoid my question Naruto, why do you want to talk to Haku?" He asked as he went to grab his sword that was on his back.

Naruto took a step back. "Well." He saw the look Zabuza was giving him and it was one that a parent would give when someone tried to hurt there child. Zabuza was giving him that look. Sighing he told him.

"Iwantedtoaskheroutonadate." He said as quickly as possible.

Zabuza blinked a couple of times. "What?"

Sighing he said it slower and in a quite voice. "I wanted to ask her on a date?"

Naruto was expecting many things at this moment. One was for Zabuza to attack him, another was for him to slam the door shut, and another was for him to threaten him with his big ass sword to take his head off.

What happened though was not what he expected. Zabuza, the infamous demon of the mist, was laughing.

Sighing he turned around and muttered an apology and tried to walk off. Key word was tried. The second he turned and apologized Zabuza grabbed his shoulder and stopped laughing.

"Where do you think your going?" He asked seriously.

"Leaving." Was his short reply.

"Why, I thought you wanted to ask her out on a date?" He asked confused.

Naruto looked at him and blinked a couple times. "You mean you don't care that I want to date her?"

"Why would I care, as long as the person she dates is nice, I could care less who she dates."

"So you wouldn't care?"

Zabuza raised an invisible eye brow seeing as he had none. "Why would I?"

"I…um… don't know?"

Zabuza chuckled. "I'm surprised it took you guys so long to break." He stated confusing Naruto.

Zabuza saw this and smirked. "Everyone that knows you at least some what has seen it in the way you two act around each other. You both obviously like each other. I'm just surprised it took one of you so long to ask the other out." Making Naruto blush slightly.

"So… do you know when she will be home?" Naruto asked trying again.

Zabuza put his hand on his chin in a thinking pose making Naruto lean in for the answer. "Don't know." He answered making Naruto nearly fall over from leaning to far.

"But she should be at the wolf claw shop in town. She ordered some senbon needles and other things there and was planning to pick them up today. You can find her there." Zabuza said looking out the door past Naruto.

"Thanks Zabuza! I owe you one!" Naruto said happily as he started to walk away.

"Oh and for your question earlier, I was teaching Haku some jutsu and stayed the night because I was exhausted." He finally answered.

Naruto nodded and said thanks again before running down the hall and out of sight.

When he was gone Zabuza turned to the man that came out of a door and walked up to him. He had long white hair. "So you must have finally gotten him to ask her out Jiraiya-sama?"

Said man grinned. "I had my part in the matter if that's what you mean." Zabuza only shook his head and invited him in to have a drink which he accepted.

Naruto himself was walking towards the wolf claw family weapon shop. The reason he was walking was so he could try and think of what he was going to say to Haku. He tried out many scenarios in his head and some sounded good.

Before he knew it though he was right in front of the shop and walking inside.

The person at the counter looked up from his weapon he was polishing and saw Naruto. He grinned. "Yo Naruto, what ya doing here? Need some more weapons?" The man asked.

Naruto looked at him and he was a tale man easily standing six feet tall. He was slightly muscular but he was also built to handle a sword by the looks of it. He had brown hair and brown eyes.

"No Dustin. I'm just looking for someone." And indeed he was. Naruto didn't even look at Dustin when he spoke to him; he was looking around the shop from one area to the other. Finally he saw a patch of black hair standing over in one of the isles. His face brightened some and he started to walk over there.

At this Dustin looked confused and followed his gaze to where he was looking. He saw the woman that was looking at some weapons earlier. 'What was her name again? Hana….no… Hake…no… Haku! Ya that's it.' He thought to himself.

"Why do you want to talk to Haku?" He question Naruto as he looked at him only to find the question feel on deaf ears as Naruto was already walking to her.

Haku was crouching looking at a weapon when she saw a shadow moving towards her so she looked over towards it. She saw Naruto walking towards her.

She smiled at him while standing up. "What are you doing here Naruto?" She asked sweetly.

Naruto smiled at her and turned toward the weapons on the rack. "Oh I came to get some weapons and saw you here, thought I'd talk to ya." He said while fingering a jagged kunai.

She gave him a blank look and then shrugged. "I see any thing particular you looking for?" While looking at some kunai also.

Naruto looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "No not really, you?"

'Damn it Naruto, just ask her! It's not that hard. You've asked girls out before! Come on you can do this. If you can take on A-rank ninja you can talk to a girl!' He berated himself on the inside for his lack of confidence, though on the outside he was calm and collected.

Sadly while he was talking to himself he missed the question from Haku.

"Naruto" She tried to get him to respond but he seemed to be day dreaming. "Naruto!" She said a little bit more forcefully.

"Wha… oh sorry Haku-chan. What did you say?" Naruto asked coming back to reality.

Haku blushed slightly at the chan suffix added to her name but shrugged it off. "I asked if you like to use senbon needles." She stated looking into his eyes.

'His eyes are always so captivating.' She thought while staring at him. 'They're like an endless void of vibrant blue water.'

"Oh… no I prefer kunai…" He trailed off not sure what to say now.

Haku caught herself staring and looked at the rack in front of her intently.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Naruto spoke. "Haku…"

She looked up at him and he stared at her. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

She was caught off guard but quickly composed herself. "No… why?" She asked as she picked up a kunai and played with it.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to do something with me?" Naruto asked looking at her carefully for her reaction.

She stumbled with the sharp weapon but got a firm grip on it. "Like a d-date?" She asked stuttering slightly.

Naruto smiled slightly and nodded. "Sure a date, that's if you want to go with me."

She turned and looked into his eyes. Then she saw his hopeful smile and smiled at him also. "I'd love to." She said with a small nod of her head.

Naruto heard this and his heart beat which was going a million beats a second skipped a beat. "You would?" He said stupidly. Then he grinned.

"That's great! I'll pick you up at your place at seven." Naruto said happily and leaned into her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. With that he, turned around and walked to the exit.

Haku got out of her stun from Naruto kissing her on the cheek and blushing profusely to see him walking to the exit. "W-wait!" She yelled out startled.

Naruto stopped mid-step and turned back to her tilting his head slightly. "Hai, Haku-chan?"

"What should I wear?" She asked with a red tint on her cheeks for all to see including Naruto.

He took a thoughtful look and then snapped his fingers. "You should wear clothes that are easy to maneuver in but still nice looking, nothing too fancy." Naruto told her and then smiled one last time and waved over his shoulder as he exited.

Haku was left standing there and she put her hand on her cheek and smiled a beautiful smile and squealed happily.

Dustin looked at the exit and then at the blushing girl that just squealed. She was blushing from embarrassment and looking around to make sure there was no one around. Sadly their were about five different people. Those people just made her turn an even deeper red and return to looking at weapons.

Dustin only shook his head he could easily tell that the Haku girl was not looking at the weapons at all. She was still thinking about Naruto. He grinned to himself. 'You finally found a girl you like Naruto, way to go.' He thought happily for his friend's son.

Once outside Naruto kept walking with a true smile on his face. The further he walked the bigger the smile got and people were watching him smile and looked confused. They've never seen him smile so much before.

Finally he couldn't take it any more. "YES! I did it!" He shouted out. Then he looked around him when it got eerily quite. He saw everyone staring at him.

He blushed in embarrassment and scratched the back of his head while walking away as fast as he could.

The crowd of people kept looking at him and then shrugged going back to there own business.

When he got home he thought of what to do for the dinner date. 'Let's see, I could always take her out to eat, but that's not what I want to do. I could make us something; Asuma always said I was a great cook. I'll have to thank Ayako-chan for teaching me how to cook later.' Naruto smiled at the thought of Sarutobi's wife teaching him to cook while he grabbed some pans for the food.

A half hour later everything was done and ready. He packed everything up and put it all into one basket and grabbed a blanket for them to sit on.

"Now to only pick the location, it can't be just any where either." Naruto said to himself. He thought for what felt like an hour before it hit him.

He grinned to himself at the location. "Perfect."

Later that night just before seven O-clock Naruto was making his way down the streets at a calm walking pace.

As he walked he was starting to regret not just teleporting or hoping roofs. He was getting way to many stares of lust and wanting from the girls around his age and then even some that were from five to twenty years older then him.

He just grumbled to himself about fan girls while looking at the ground. Then he stopped because he noticed there was a person in his way and when he moved to go around he moved in his way again.

Looking up he saw Zabuza with an impassive look on his face. "Follow me Naruto." He said simply and started to walk away.

Naruto watched him walk away with a confused look but shrugged and followed anyways. Zabuza lead him to an ally way where he noticed Zabuza standing with his arms crossed facing him. Raising an eyebrow he walked over towards the man.

"What do you want Zabuza? As you probably know I have to meet Haku in about ten minutes." He stated with an impatient voice.

Zabuza just grunted. "Naruto." Zabuza said with an eerily calm voice. "Listen well because I won't say it twice. If you end up hurting Haku in any way what so ever, I _will _kill you. Is that understood?" He asked with an extra deadly calm voice on the will part.

Naruto knew he could probably take on Zabuza and win if he had to but a crazily mad Zabuza out for your head and nothing else, now that was another thing. "Y-you don't need to worry Zabuza-san, I'll make sure Haku-chan is fine." He stuttered out slightly.

Zabuza just grinned. "Good, cause if you don't I'll make sure you'll never have kids."

Naruto paled considerably at that comment. "H-hai." He said in a weak voice.

Zabuza grinned happily. "Glad we have an understanding. Now that the pleasantries are over you go take Haku out on that date."

Naruto could only node and then disappear as fast as possible around the corner.

'Note to self, when involving Haku-chan, Zabuza is like a father and really scary!' Naruto thought to himself as he shivered remembering the comment about certain private areas.

After the bumping into Zabuza, Naruto was so caught up in his thought that he didn't even realize were he was going until he was standing right outside of Haku's apartment door.

Shaking his head to clear the thought, he raised his hand and knocked.

He heard some shuffling inside and a "coming" from inside and then the door opened.

When the door opened Naruto felt his jaw drop at the sight before him. Now standing in front of him was the most beautiful women he has ever seen. "Haku-chan… wow." Was all he got out of his mouth?

Haku was dressed in a beautiful dark blue kimono that was littered with dark green to almost black dragon flies all over the dress. The legs were split at the side and the bottom was loose fitting to allow easy mobility and to be able to sit in any position with out revealing anything you didn't want to.

She had on dark blue sandals that matched the dress perfectly. Her hair was all combed out and hanging freely to her mid back. It looked like silk to Naruto. Her face was awe inspiring to, that of an angel.

Haku found herself in the same state as Naruto himself did.

He was wearing civilian black pants and had black sandals on his feet. He wore a tight blue shirt that had a dragon flying towards the stars and the shirt assented his well defined chest. Over his shirt he wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned right now. His hair instead of it being a mess of spikes in random directions like normal; was combed out so the top had spikes and it spiked down in the back with the sides being spiked slightly.

'He looks amazing.' Haku thought to herself when she suddenly understood what Naruto said to her. They both blushed at the comment.

Shaking his head slightly Naruto brought his hand from behind his back to show Haku a blue rose.

When Haku saw the rose she blushed more but not just because of the flower. 'Blue's my favorite color.' She thought as she took the rose and brought it inside and put it inside a vase.

When she was done she came back out with a smile. "Thanks Naruto-kun, you shouldn't have."

'Her smile is beautiful.' Naruto thought to himself. He scratched the back of his head. "It was no big deal Haku-chan."

Said girl just smiled at him and walked out of her house while shutting the door. "Shall we?" She asked kindly.

Naruto smiled at her and held out his arm. "Why yes Haku-chan, I believe it is time we go."

Haku nodded and hocked her arm through Naruto's and was lead out into the streets. Once in the streets they separated and just walked beside each other.

While they walked they both noticed the looks they were getting. Some were of jealousy of getting the man/women they wanted, others happiness to see a couple together, and some just didn't care.

"Where are we going Naruto-kun?" Haku asked after a while.

Naruto looked her way and grinned on the inside but on the outside he held a small smile. "You'll just have to wait and see." He replied as he continued to walk with a curious girl.

On there walk they talked about random things while just enjoying there time together. They soon arrived at the end of the street and the beginning of a dirt path in the trees.

Naruto just continued to walk with a girl who got more and more curious. "Naruto-kun where are we going, I've never been to this part of the forest."

Naruto just looked at her briefly before he kept walking leading her by his arm. "You'll see it's just another five minutes or less."

And indeed it was only five more minutes of walking. Soon they came upon a clearing in the trees. When they passed through it Haku was temporarily blinded by the brightness of the clearing but when she could see clearly a second later her breath caught in her throat.

She was standing in the most beautiful place she has seen yet in her life.

She was in a clearing with a small lake about five hundred feet wide. There were trees surrounding the entire lake and clearing they were standing. The lake itself was beautiful beyond comparison. Add to it the sun that was going down jut added to the beauty.

Then she noticed a basket by the lake. The basket was sitting on a blanket the size for two people. She could do nothing but stare at the place in awe.

Naruto watch Haku as the many emotions went through her face. First were surprise, then intrigue, then finally a happy smile.

She then turned that smile to Naruto. "It's absolutely beautiful. How do you know about this place?"

Naruto smiled at her while grabbing her hand and leading her to the picnic basket and blanket. "I found this place when I was training one day. I was running laps around the village and got lost in my thoughts and ended up here. This has been one of my two places I always go when I need to think or be by myself."

Naruto sat down on the blanket and Haku did the same still looking at the surroundings in awe. Naruto just ignored the look and took out the food in the basket.

By the time Haku looked back at Naruto she saw all the food laid out in front of her on the blanket. She saw some sandwiches that looked like ham and swiss, some potato salad, egg roles, chicken, chips, and some drinks.

She just stared at all that was in front of her and blinked a couple of times. "Did you make all this?"

"Hai, try some and tell me if it's any good." Naruto asked as he handed her some of the chicken wings.

She ate it delicately and after the first bite she looked at Naruto and smiled. "It's great Naruto-kun. You're a good cook."

Naruto smiles at her and helped himself to some food also.

While they ate they talked about the chunnin exams and what they've been doing lately. By the time they were done eating the sun was already at the horizon and they just stared at it while sitting by each other.

"Would you like to take a walk with me Haku-chan?" Naruto asked while standing up and offering his hand.

Haku took the hand and Naruto helped pull her up. "I'd love to."

When Naruto pulled her up he went to pull his hand back but he felt Haku squeeze his hand with her own. He just smiled at her and started to walk with her.

They ended up walking slowly around the lake enjoying the scenery that the lake and trees provided. They talked and laughed while enjoying each others company. They were having the time of their lives, and nothing could spoil it.

As the sun went down Haku also got to see the most amazing sight ever in her life; the sunset over a gorgeous lake in the woods. It was breath taking and actually had her staring at it in amazement as she unconsciously squeezed Naruto's hand harder.

Naruto smiled at her and eventually the sun was down and they made there way back to town. The trip back was nice and calming with mild chit chat between them. They didn't talk much because they didn't have to. The atmosphere was alright between them at the moment and holding hands was enough.

Eventually they made it back to town and to Haku's apartment door. Haku had a smile on the whole way home and Naruto was the same.

"I had a good time Naruto-kun, thanks for taking me out." Haku said with a true smile on her face.

Naruto smiled back just as easily. "I'm glad you had a good time Haku-chan, so did I. I hope we can do this another time." Naruto talked with a big smile on his face.

"I'd like that." She said with an equally large smile.

Naruto kept the smile at the response and then leaned in to her.

Haku looked at Naruto with a faster and faster beating heart. 'He's going to kiss me!' She thought, making her blush heavier and heavier the closer he got.

She was staring at Naruto in the eyes while he moved closer and closer.

Naruto was also staring into her eyes.

Slowly Naruto's lips descended onto Haku's and they finally met. They kissed for the first time even if it was a light kiss.

The kiss was tender and they both put there happiness into the kiss. After a second Haku responded to the kiss, and they stood there with their lips locked as they ascended into the heavens.

Reluctantly, they separated and opened there eyes to stare each other in the eyes. They only broke apart due to there bodies screaming at them for air, though they would later say they would have much rather suffocated then separated.

When they looked into each other eyes, they noticed they were both clouded over in bliss.

Finally Naruto cleared his head and smiled. "So I guess this means we can go out again?"

Haku blushed slightly with a happy smile. "H-hai."

"So are we boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"H-hai."

Naruto smiled at her turned around and started to walk away. As he walked away he said one last thing that made Haku sigh in content and happiness. "I can't wait to see you again Haku-chan."

Once inside her apartment she closed the door and leaned against the said door with a love sick grin on her face letting out a sigh of contentment to go with it.

"That good?" She hears a gruff voice in front of her.

"Ya…" She said dreamily not really thinking at all. Then her brain finally caught up to her and she wiped her head up to look at the person that was in her home.

She saw Zabuza standing there with a big smirk. She blushed beat red. That only made him start to chuckle and that soon turned into laughter when Haku tried to come up with an excuse only for it to come out as a sputter of incomplete words that made no sense.

At this point Haku was beat red for two reasons. One was from embarrassment and the other was from anger.

"Get out!" She screamed at him with a deadly look on her face that promised pain.

Zabuza instantly stopped laughing and looked at her, but when he did he saw she was beat red. That made him laugh some more.

And that laughter got him a senbon needle thrown at him from the girl he was laughing at.

As quickly as he came he left. Though this time it wasn't through the door, but through the window that he jumped out of to get away from all the weapons being thrown at him.

He landed on the ground rough and instantly had to dodge some more weapons and even some random things like a shoe, picture frame, and some cans.

Where she got so many things so fast he would never know. He just grumbled to himself when he finally got to safety. "Stupid little brat…. Throwing crap at me for laughing at her."

Then he had an image of her appear of her blushing beat red in his mind. That made him burst out laughing again and he continued to laugh all the way home.

Naruto himself when he made it home went strait to bed and got out of all his cloths and left his boxers on. He jumped into bed and looked at the ceiling with a smile of his own.

"Today was defiantly worth it… hai, more than worth it, it was the best day of my life." With that thought he fell asleep with content, love sick smile on his face.

Across town Haku was having similar thought. "I had a really nice time tonight… and damn what a kiss!" Blushing she turned over in her bed and fell asleep with a smile.

Author Notes…

I hope you liked the chapter and the date. I tried _really_ hard to get the date between Haku and Naruto right. Let me know what you think about the thing.

As always I will answer all questions in a reply or PM. Just let me know.

On another note, I have been doing badly in school, well pacifically College level Economics, and I'm failing. So I have to study more which will get in the way of writing, a LOT. Sorry but grades before fun (Which I consider writing). So ya… sorry. Don't worry though; I still plan on updating in three weeks at latest I hope… time will tell.

People have been asking about when the finals will come around, should be in two or three more chapters. I finally figured out a way to incorporate Gaara into my plans to work out with the Chunnin exams, them meeting, possible fighting (You'll have to wait and see if they fight or not later), and what happens to him afterwards. That was a hint on what might happen next chapter.

I hope you liked it better than last chapter, not many people did sadly… can't win them every time I guess. Oh well… Review…


	14. Sand Storm before the War

Yo… Been a while. I know I said I would update in three weeks, but life is a bitch. Good thing is my college level economy grade is now a C- which is still bad but acceptable in passing terms. Got Xbox 360 with three games, new vcr/dvd combo, fixed vehicle twice, and school of course, and work. With having a life in-between all this is hard. You see my problem with updating and writing. So now that you know why it took so long enjoy the chapter!

Now then enjoy the chapter please…

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Sand Storm before the War

"Damn… that was… a good warm up." Naruto panted out as he stood surveying his surroundings. He was in an area that used to be considered a training ground.

"Well… maybe a little to… much." He thought as an after thought. Looking around he saw a few trees scorched and slashed all over. The ground had small craters and looks of recent explosions.

"You think brat?" Another voice asked.

Naruto looked up at him and gave him a blank look. He was staring at one of his senseis, Jiraiya the toad Sannin.

Deciding to ignore him he turned around and started to walk away when he winced at a pain in his arm. He looked down and saw that it was all scratched up with one of the wounds being averagely deep for a shinobi injury.

"Damn… this looks like it needs to be healed." He said more to himself than his sensei. He had a far away look on his face that just told everyone around he was thinking about someone.

Jiraiya grinned. "You just want to see that girlfriend of yours Haku."

Naruto glared at him, but Jiraiya could easily see that it wasn't a true glare by the stupid blush on his cheeks.

"What has it been, two weeks since you two have been dating?" He asked looking at his student.

Naruto looked at him and shrugged. "Some things like that, why?"

"Oh nothing, just you've never dated anyone for more than one date." He said matter of factly.

Naruto glared at him again. "None of those girls actually liked me for me. They liked me for my name, status as an Anbu or status as the Yondaime's son." He said bitterly.

Jiraiya just grinned at the response. "Exactly, this ones special, maybe you'll be able to loose that virginity of yours on her." He said while taking out his note book and writing that line down with a perverted grin.

If he would have looked up at that time he would have noticed Naruto's eye twitching and the longer he kept giggling, the worse it got.

"Damn perverted hermit, just shut up." He mumbled to himself.

Jiraiya heard this though. "Oh, and are you going to make me?" He asked mockingly.

Naruto gritted his teeth knowing that in a real fight he had no chance in hell of winning against a Sannin. He turned around and began to walk away in anger when he remembered something.

Jiraiya was grinning in triumph that he won their little battle of wits. That is until he saw Naruto stop and turn back around grinning.

That grin freaked him out a little. He knew that grin very well. That grin was on Tsunade's expression when ever she found something that would truly make him suffer.

He took a step back in slight fright. "Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto said in a calm voice belittling his facial expression of evil planning.

Gulping he responded. "H-hai."

"You wouldn't happen to have visited the adult book stores yet in Konoha have you?" He asked in that sweat calm voice again.

Now he was confused. 'Why would the brat want to know that?' He thought to himself.

"No why?"

Naruto grinned evilly again. "Oh no reason, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the book you write though." Naruto said off handedly.

Jiraiya was by Narutos side in a second. Naruto was actually surprised how fast he moved. 'I couldn't even see him, damn, didn't know anyone could move that fast even if you are a Sannin.'

"What happened to my books?!" He asked in trepidation and fright.

Naruto turned and was about to leave when Jiraiya put a hand on his shoulder stopping him. "What happened?" His voice was dripping with authority.

Naruto found himself standing up straighter just from the voice he used. 'I forgot Jiraiya _is_ a Sannin after all.'

"O-oh nothing… just that every female in the village took all the males books and burned them is all." He said like it was an every day thing.

Jiraiya for his part didn't agree. He just froze up completely, he didn't even blink. Naruto looked slightly worried but then shrugged. 'Deserves him right for teasing me.'

With that final thought and a last glance at his sensei he walked away towards the hospital. Not one minute latter he heard the most ungodly scream he has ever heard. Right after the scream a voice followed that sounded strangely like Jiraiya's and he was sure all of Konoha heard it.

The voice said one simple word. "NOOOOOO!" The bird all took flight and scattered.

Shaking his head he continued to walk to the hospital.

In another location a person who had three clones of himself was working on his paperwork. When he heard the scream he let his chakra slip on the clones and they puffed out of existence.

Shaking his head to clear the sudden rush of memories he focused on what he just heard.

"I feel your pain Jiraiya… I feel your pain." He said sadly looking down at his empty drawer where his leisure time use to be.

Sighing sadly he looked up and noticed the paper work seemed to not have changed in the slightest for the last ten minutes.

"Damn you to hell!" He said with venom in his voice that could easily scare senior shinobi shitless but the stack of papers weren't affected at all.

His eye started to twitch before he grabbed one and read threw it. He completely forgot about the secret to defeating the thing all kage's hate… paperwork.

Naruto was oblivious to the Hokages plights when he entered the hospital. He walked up to the registry desk and coughed to get the ladies attention behind said desk.

The lady looked up and nearly jumped when she noticed it was Naruto. "N-Naruto-sama what can I help you with." Naruto sighed for two reasons. One he knew this girl liked him because of all the looks he gets from her when he comes in here. Second because she was being so damn formal.

Seeing the depressed look she got worried. "Is something wrong Naruto-sama?"

Lowering his head some more he responded. "No, I'm fine thank you. But please stop calling me with such formality and respect. Just call me Naruto-san or Namikaze-san if you have to."

The girl nodded her head in understanding. "Can I help you with anything then Namikaze-san?"

Shaking his head he nodded. "Hai, I was wondering if Haku-chan is still working today?"

The girl behind the desk frowned at the chan suffix but didn't say anything about it. She looked on the clip board and saw her name. "Hai, she should be doing her check ups on some patients we have in C200 through C 210."

Naruto smiled at her and said his thanks as he walked away while mumbling something about evil fan girls making life hard.

Once he found the room number he started to look in each one, until he found the one with her in it.

Sliding the door open he was surprised to find Haku just about to leave. They were inches apart and both backed away mumbling apologies.

After regaining there composure Haku looked up and saw who it was. "Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" She asked clearly excited to see him.

Naruto went to scratch the back of his head sheepishly and that's when she saw his arms.

Letting out a sigh of irritation she held out her hands expectantly. "Let me see them." She told him in a commanding voice.

Laughing nervously he held his hands out and she put her hands above his arms. Her hands started to emit a soft green glow and the wounds on his arms started to slowly close up until they were completely gone.

"What did you do this time?" She asked while working on healing him.

Naruto chuckled nervously but answered none the less. "Well… I was training with Jiraiya-sensei… and you know how we get…" He trailed off knowing she already knew of his Sannin teacher.

He had been in earlier this week with his arms burnt to a crisp. She demanded that he told her everything that happened.

Needless to say that was not a nice conversation for Naruto. He got a verbal beating like no other.

"There all done." He heard Haku say while dusting invisible dirt off her hands. Naruto shook his head to clear his thought and examined his arms.

As normal they were perfectly healed and not one, even small scratch was on his skin.

"As always a perfect heal Haku-chan. I swear your getting better every day." Haku smiled at the compliment he gave her.

"Why is it that you don't classify yourself as a field medical ninja though is beyond me?" Naruto said confused with a shrug.

Haku looked at him and smiled while sitting next to him on the couch in the room. "I don't want to be a field medic. They only heal people on the battle field, I want to do the actual battle and not be stuck only healing. I do this just because it gives me practice with my healing and I enjoy helping people out immensely." She said as she held his hand giving it a squeeze and getting one in return.

Smiling Naruto stood up pulling her up with him. "Come on Haku-chan, I'll treat you to some lunch if that's O.K. with you?" Naruto asked with a hopeful smile.

Haku smiled sadly at him. "Sorry Naruto-kun, I can't today. I have four more patients to check on and then I have to do my own training today. I won't have time."

Naruto frowned at the rejection but gave her hand a squeeze none the less. Seeing him sad, she tried to cheer him up. "How about we get dinner tomorrow though?"

Naruto brightened up immediately at the prospect of getting to take her out. "I'd like that. I'll meet you tomorrow at the fountain at seven, does that sound good to you?"

Haku smiled at the response she got. "Of course Naruto-kun."

"Great! I'll let you get back to work then Haku-chan. Have a good one." With that Naruto leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He turned to leave letting go of her hand at the same time.

Haku frowned at the kiss. She pulled on his loosing grip on her hand and held tightly onto his own hand. She pulled him back and he spun back around and she gave him a kiss on the lips.

Naruto was surprised at first but quickly kissed back. When he pulled away they both had happy smiles on the face.

"Bye Naruto-kun." Haku said walking by him with a mischievous grin and glint in her eyes.

Naruto watched her go admiring her round ass, as she sauntered out and could only laugh happily. "I do admit a kiss on the lips for a good bye is a lot better than on the cheek." He told himself as he exited the same door Haku left from moments ago.

As he walked down the hall he was greeted constantly by people that knew of him. He would just node and say a half hearted reply in response. Finally he found the exit. It wasn't the front door, but he didn't care as long as he could get out of there.

He still had the chills from when the doctors forced him to stay there and the damn interrogation they gave him about his mental stability. "Damn doctors and there over reacting to minor injuries." He grumbled to himself even though he knew those arm wounds were anything but minor.

Suddenly he felt a sharp increase of killing intent in the immediate area. Looking up from his grumbling he noticed it was coming from right behind the back exit of the hospital.

He opened the door to see Rock Lee, the genin from Mailto Gai's team, if he remembered right, right away with that bright green jump suit of his.

He was dodging by the looks of it sand. He could only remember one person that used sand in such quantities to fight with. That was the genin from Suna; his name was Gaara of the sand.

Looking across from Lee, he saw just who he guessed it would be. There was Gaara standing completely still with his arms across his chest watching Lee dodge his sand.

Narrowing his eyes he made his presence known to the two of them.

"What do you think your doing?!" He shouted out which made both of the teens snap there heads his way looking startled as neither of them had sensed him, having been rather concentrated in the fight.

Lee instantly straightened up and shot back away from the prone sand to a more safe location. "Naruto-san… what are you doing here?" He asked confused.

Naruto looked his way and gave him a glare that made him flinch. "That is not important. What is important though is why the hell you two think it's ok to fight outside of the ring!" His voice was harsh and contained some killing intent to get his point across.

Lee at least looked sorry but Gaara didn't look like he cared one bit, he just stood there staring at Naruto intently with his sand returning to his gourd on his back.

"I am truly sorry for this Naruto-san." Lee started but was cut off.

"You don't need to use formalities Lee." Naruto told him.

Nodding his head in understanding he continued. "As I was saying Naruto-kun, I was just here to see if Tenten was out yet, when I was confronted by Gaara, and then provoked into a fight when he attacked me."

Naruto nodded and looked at Gaara for his excuse. They stared at each other not blinking for a full minute. Finally Naruto had enough.

"Well… are you going to tell me your side of the story or not?" He asked rather irritated at the whole situation. It didn't help how Gaara looked at him with a slight crazed look; it was starting to irritate him.

Gaara at first said nothing before he finally spoke. When he did his voice was gruff as if he was trying to hold something off. "What he said was completely true Namikaze."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him and turned to Lee. "You may leave Lee, I don't want to catch you fighting another examinee again or else I'll have you disqualified. Do I make myself clear?" He asked harshly at the end.

Lee nodded vigorously even giving him a salute. "Hai Naruto-kun. And thank you for not disqualifying me for my most indecent acts of unyouthfulness."

Naruto grounded inwardly at the youthfulness comment. He gets enough from Gai; he didn't need it from Lee also.

With that Lee left taking one last glance at Gaara before sprinting into the hospital to do what he first intended to do there.

Naruto turned back to Gaara and saw he was still staring at him intently with a small bit of killing intent leaking out of him.

Narrowing his eyes at him he leaked a little of his own killing intent. "And what do you have to say for your actions Gaara of the Sand?"

Gaara was affected by the killing intent very little. His only reaction was the slight widening of his eyes for a split second before they hardened and he let his own killing intent rise.

'This guy is strong… he could prove my existence even better than that green guy for sure.' Gaara thought to himself getting a slight crazy look on his face.

Naruto was getting a bad feeling from that look. He had never seen a look quite like that one. It was a mix of insanity, wanting, and sorrow.

'So many feelings in that stare and they all seem to contradict the other and seem to be fighting for dominance.' Naruto observed. Through the years in Anbu he learned to read people like a book from just there eyes. It was a neat trick and was of great help on missions when dealing with enemy or ally alike.

"Tell me Gaara… why did you attack Lee for no reason?" Naruto's voice was calm the entire time he said this never breaking eye contact with Gaara.

Gaara himself kept the eye contact with ease. "I exist to kill everyone other than me... I attacked because Lee could prove my existence." He said this with a monotone voice.

Naruto himself was confused by his answer. His brain was working overtime to try and understand this Gaara person. "So you attacked to prove your existence… tell me… why do you believe that?" Naruto asked truly wanting to know.

"To Suna I am nothing but a weapon to kill." Was his simple reply.

Naruto's eyes widened at his response. Then they narrowed in understanding. "So Suna made a living weapon did they?"

Gaara nodded his head. "I am that weapon. Through fighting alone and winning alone, I prove my existence to the world."

Naruto cringed at his answer but hid it well. "Do you really believe that?"

"When I was born I had the one tailed demon Tanuki (Raccoon Dog) Shukaku sealed in me at birth. I killed my own mother at birth so I could become the ultimate weapon for Suna." Gaara said in a monotone again.

Naruto's eyes widened considerably at this little bit of information.

'So he's a Jinchuriki (Power of Human Sacrifice), or more commonly known as a demon holder. Damn, this just complicated things.' He thought nervously. He went to speak but before he could say anything, Gaara continued.

"To them I am simply an object of the past that they wish would disappear… I asked myself why I exist then. Why am I alive? When I thought about this I could find no real answer. But as you live you need a reason to continue on; otherwise… it's the same as being dead…" Gaara said with a far away look.

Naruto himself was startled at the answer. 'Such a deep understanding of life, and yet so misguided to the world its rather scary, is this what the shinobi nations have gone to… making living weapons for war?' He asked himself trying to keep his outside appearance neutral through this whole conversation.

Gaara ignoring the contemplative look on Naruto's face, and continued on effectively snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"I then came to this conclusion; I exist to kill every human besides myself, fighting only for myself, living while only loving myself. If you think that everybody else simply exists to allow you to experience that feeling, nothing is better than that way of life. As long as there are people in this world for me to kill and continue to feel that joy of living… my existence will not vanish…" Gaara finished with a scowl and slightly crazy look on his face.

Naruto himself was astonished at the boy's logic. 'That is completely messed up but I can see it happening if you live a life as nothing but a weapon and all by yourself.'

Then a rather startling fact came to him, that fact made him shake in his ninja boots. 'I-I could have been like him… Dad at first planned on sealing Kyuubi in me, but he found a better way to get rid of Kyuubi.' He thought while scratching his right shoulder in an unconscious remembrance of a phantom pain.

'I-I really could have turned out like him… wow… I'm really glad dad found a better way though.' He thought to himself coming back to reality to see sand starting to come out of Gaara's gourd.

"Put the sand back in the gourd Gaara, if you continue to draw on that sand of yours, I'll consider it a threat and will stop you." Naruto said with his killing intent rising considerably.

Gaara himself raised his own killing intent.

'His killing intent is at least mid Jounin level… this guy is way past genin level.' Naruto observed tensing his muscles.

"You will prove my existence Namikaze… I will kill you!" With that shout from Gaara he let his sand gush out of his gourd.

Naruto's eyes widened considerably before he jumped back from the initial onslaught of sand.

'Shit! I can't fight him here! If I have to get serious, which I have feeling I might have to, we could hurt some civilians.' Naruto thought frantically.

Dodging another wall of sand he looked around and found a way out that would lead away from all the civilians.

He looked back at Gaara and saw him standing there with his arms crossed over his chest with a maniac grin on his twisted face.

Narrowing his eyes he leapt back. "If you want to fight me Gaara, you'll have to follow me out side of this area. I won't fight you here." Naruto said with gritted teeth.

Gaara looked like he could give a crap what he wanted. "I will have your blood Namikaze! You will fight me!"

Clenching his teeth in anger he took a gamble. "If you want to fight you'll have to catch me first!" With that said he shot off into the alley way and jumped on the wall and raced towards the woods that he knew were only fifteen blocks away.

If one looked at Gaara at that second you would see a twisted grin of the likes you only see in the insane. He took after Naruto the second he fled intent on killing him and getting his blood.

Naruto himself saw that his gamble worked and Gaara was following him just like he wanted him to. 'Now to get out of the village as fast as possible.' He thought while picking up speed seeing sand about to catch up to him.

Dodging another vicious slam from the attacking sand Naruto flipped through the air and landed on another tree branch finally thinking it was far enough away from the village to fight the demon container. After a good twenty minute run at Chunnin speed they made it to a location far outside of the civilian portion of town and into a training ground on the outer edge of the village walls and more importantly an area where no one but them can get hurt.

Naruto looked back to see sand coming at him fast. He dodged to the side and leapt to another branch.

He looked back at the sand to see it had disappeared. He tried sensing it and his eyes widened considerably when he felt a chakra source just behind were he came from up high in the trees.

He saw Gaara standing there looking at him with killer intent just oozing out of him.

Naruto was actually surprised at the amount that he was emitting. 'Damn that must be some of the demons killing intent also, he can't have that much.' Naruto thought startled.

Then without any warning Gaara launched another wave of sand at him.

Naruto seeing this leapt back and started to make some seals.

"Futon: Daitoppa." (Wind Great Breakthrough)

He thrust his palms forward and wind exploded out of them both. This powerful gust of wind was more like a concentrated hurricane and went straight towards the incoming sand.

When the two attacks hit each other they fought for supremacy, only for the wind to die out first. But it did its job for a distraction and a way to slow it down.

By the time Gaara could see were Naruto stood he noticed he was already gone. Before he could even look around he heard a voice right behind him.

"Right behind you!" Naruto said calmly as he attempted a round house kick to Gaara's head.

That's when it happened, the sand that was still inside of the gourd on his back exploded out and blocked the kick. The pure power behind the kick dissipated the sand but it did successfully block the hit from Naruto.

Eyes widening, Naruto jumped back. 'So that sand of his isn't for attack only but defense to… and it looks like its automatic defense at that.' Naruto observed cautiously.

Not letting this get to him Naruto went in for another attack. Gaara just turned towards him with a blood lust look and aura to him.

Naruto got as close as he could and then jumped back when the sand came up to grab him and block at the same time. Side stepping the wall of sand he took out a kunai and slashed it through the airborne sand, effectively cutting it apart and leaping through it.

Keeping his pace the same Naruto got right up to Gaara's body and attempted a right hock to his face. Sadly the sand shot up again and blocked the hit.

Smirking Naruto pushed chakra to his legs and he seemed to disappear from view, much to the shock of Gaara.

He whipped his head all around looking for him only to turn his head to the right and see his sand coming up to protect him. The fist went right through the sand and came within three inches of his face until it stopped and for that split second he could see Naruto's smirking face.

Then he seemed to disappear again only for Gaara to turn his head to the left and see more sand being displaced and what he thought to be a foot coming near his shoulder. Sadly it was to fast for him to see and the foot was gone before he could truly identify it as a foot.

This continued on for eight more hits with Gaara whipping his head in every direction trying to find Naruto but all he would see was a blur before he was gone.

Then he turned his head straight forward seeing Naruto appear there. Before he could react, Naruto launched himself at him and dodged under Gaara's sand that came to protect him and came right up to his body.

All Gaara had time for was to widen his eyes before he felt a fist slam into his cheek bone making him tumble back five feet before he regained his balance and stood up shakily.

He looked up only to see Naruto form three hand seals and then he saw that same seal appear on his hand and it lowered from three to one again.

'This guy is truly a worthy opponent! I will prove my existence by bathing in his blood!' Gaara thought with a truly crazy grin on his face.

Naruto saw this grin. 'He truly has lost his humanity hasn't he?' Naruto thought sadly. 'Did Suna make him crazy?'

He was forced out of his thought when he saw another wave of sand coming at him. Jumping back he back peddled on the tree until he came to the base and jumped downwards.

He landed in a crouch and had to immediately jump back to avoid the crashing sand that was above him. He looked back up once he landed and saw the sand created a small crater. 'Pretty powerful sand.' He noted dryly.

Then he noticed Gaara jump down in front of him also and look at him with that same crazy smile that seemed to have gotten even crazier if that is possible.

"Gaara…" The said boy said nothing but stared at him while gathering sand around him.

"I'm going to get serious now… I suggest you stop this now before I'm forced to kill you for attacking me and a fellow leaf Nin." Naruto said this while watching the teen intently. He knew he was stronger then a genin and its safe to never be off guard any ways no matter what rank you are. That theory has kept him alive so far in his career as a ninja so he'll stick to it.

"I will kill you Namikaze and prove my existence!" Was all he said before he let his sand shot out at Naruto.

Naruto saw this and shook his head sadly… he didn't want to kill the kid because he just misunderstood things.

Dodging the initial wave of sand with relative ease Naruto rushed at Gaara.

The said boy only saw a blur before he felt excruciating pain in his stomach and he feel to his knees coughing up blood.

Naruto looked down at him and shook his head. "You can't win against me Gaara… you just don't have the speed to keep up and your sand can't move fast enough to catch me either."

Gaara heard none of this. At some point he stopped clutching his stomach and went to clutch his head in agony. He started to mumble to himself and then he just feel silent.

Naruto took this silence cautiously. He tightened his muscles getting ready to move at a moments notice. And good thing he did to, because not a second later Gaara shot his left arm up in a swiping motion.

Naruto jumped back to avoid it but he didn't come out unharmed. He looked down and saw four gashes in his Jounin vest that weren't there before.

He looked up to see that Gaara now supported a giant claw of sand with blue veins on his left arm. He also saw that where he hit him in the stomach he had sand crumbling down and reforming… a layer of sand armor.

'So that's why the punch to his cheek earlier didn't affect him that much… wow this guy is something else.' Naruto thought actually excited some what to see how far he could go with him.

Gaara on the other hand was drooling slightly from his mouth. The sand on his left arm was slowly starting to cover his body in the same blue veined substance.

"Mom wants your blood Namikaze!" He shouted out at Naruto.

Naruto himself was startled and confused. 'Mom?' Then it hit him.

'Damn… Shukaku must be messing with his vessels head some how… but that could only happen if the seal was… well that's just stupid, make a weapon with a weak seal to hold a tailed demon.' Naruto thought, mentally berating Suna for being so stupid.

He was unfortunately cut from his cursing, when he noticed Gaara was upon him in seconds. 'His speed has increased drastically!'

Jumping to the side he avoided the swipe of the claw and to his astonishment, the ground he hit left a small crater and four gashes in the ground.

Jumping back Naruto knew he had to take this seriously now.

Charging forward he went right up to Gaara's body and gave him three lightning kick jabs into both shoulder blades and one to the arm covered in sand. To his surprise the automatic defense of sand didn't even try to block the attacks but seemed to come onto Gaara's body and cover it more in the vein like sand.

The three hits were all blocked this way and Gaara took this moment to try his own offensive. Swiping with his now two clawed arms he swung them both at Naruto.

He narrowly avoided the first one and got hit by the second one in the shoulder launching him back ten feet and he landed in the trees.

'His power has also increased.' Naruto thought.

"**Some attack name!" (Sand Shuriken) **

Gaara tossed his hands in a wide ark and some thirty shrunkens came out of the sand on his arms and came at him with the intent of skewering him alive.

Dodging some of them he made some seals.

"**Doton: Some thing." (Underground thing)** Naruto landed on the ground dodging the attacks left and right. When he hit the ground he immediately sunk into the earth itself and disappeared.

The rest of the shrunkens hit the ground where he had once been and left a foot wide hole where they hit.

Naruto reemerged from the ground some fifteen feet away and raced towards Gaara that was looking around frantically.

His body had already been covered completely and he even had a tail now. The only thing that wasn't covered in the vein like sand was his feet and half of his face.

It was at this moment that Naruto knew how he came along this form. When he saw his half face he looked startled but kept moving making some seals.

'The demon is getting out some how and is taking over his body… that must be what a miniature Shukaku looks like.' Naruto thought increasing his speed.

By the time he finished this thought he was right behind Gaara finishing his last seal.

Gaara saw to late where his opponent was. He brought up his tail and one of his arms to block what ever attack was sure to come.

Naruto brought his hand up to his mouth and exhaled a huge breath.

"Katon: Karyu Endan." (Fire Dragon)

The high B-class fire jutsu hit dead on from a distance of only seven feet. The huge dragon didn't even get to form before it hit its target and consumed him.

When he let his chakra and the fire die down he looked on expectantly. He saw to his amazement that Gaara himself was completely unharmed but his tail and arm weren't.

They were both completely turned to glass and Gaara himself looked like he was in some pain. Though by the look of it he was more surprised then anything else.

Naruto was weary of this outcome. He was surprised he was able to even come out of that without some type of burn. True the sand was turned to glass but that wasn't his actual body.

Then Gaara gritted his teeth and raised his arm and tail and brought it down on the tree branch he was standing on. The glass was shattered in a brilliant display of not caring for ones self. The shards of glass flew in ever direction including back at Gaara himself.

He didn't seem to care at all though by the looks of it. His vein like sand blocked all the glass shards and then the rest of his sand started to reform where his glass appendages use to be.

With in ten seconds both the tail and arm were back together and he was ready to fight. Naruto in this time was not standing still though. He was trying to figure this guy out.

'Why the hell does he believe he has to fight me?! Damn it to hell… by the looks of things the only way to stop him is to kill him. This will surely ruin the alliance between our villages.' Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration.

In this time Gaara had become wary of the person he was fighting. He had proved time and time again that he could get past his sand defense and he could even get by his attacks with relative ease to.

But the voice in his head didn't care. Shukaku was demanding blood and he had to comply to shut the demon up. Once the sand appendages were fixed he leapt at the prone Naruto with the same speed as before.

Naruto was brought out of his thinking at the advancing Gaara. He jumped back as his sand arm demolished the tree branch he was standing on.

"Gaara, please stop this fight now before I have to resort to killing you!" Naruto shouted dodging another wave of sand shrunkens.

Glaring at his opponent he proceeded to go for the kill. "You asked for it Gaara." Naruto said before he disappeared in a burst of speed to fast for him to see.

Gaara looked around frantically and brought his arms up by his side and had his sand come up and surround him in a rough look defense.

Naruto saw this and scoffed mentally. 'You'd think he'd learn after it's failed so many times.' He thought clearly not impressed.

Naruto charged in head first and went for a straight punch to Gaara's head.

Gaara saw the blur of Naruto's body and brought his arms up to guard his body. He also mentally told his sand to form into spikes all around him to make for a deadly defense and attack at the safe time.

Naruto was already to close by the time the sand formed the spikes to stop. He widened his eyes in fright and twisted his body in mid air trying to avoid being impaled.

He dodged the first spikes and landed on the same branch as Gaara. He pushed to the side to avoid the spiked that grew to hit him, but it was too late. He was impaled in multiple directions and he coughed up some blood.

Gaara saw this and smirked in satisfaction at finally getting the blood of a truly strong enemy.

Naruto looked up at Gaara in pain with some blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Gaara expected to see many things but not a smirk.

Naruto only said one thing to explain his smirk. "Boom."

Gaara's eyes widened considerably when Naruto started to glow slight blue for a split second. In that second he put both arms and his tail in front of him as a shield.

The smirking Naruto proceeded to explode right in front of Gaara.

The sand spikes were completely destroyed and the sand that survived was scattered all around the tree tops and forest floor. 

Gaara himself was blown back with chunks of his sand body missing. He crashed through five trees before he was stopped and imbedded into one of them. He just sat there in pain.

Naruto watched all of this happen from the tree he was hiding in. He had to repress a smirk at seeing his exploding clone work.

He watched as it all happened while he was safe in hiding to come in and surprise him if need be. It obviously wasn't

He then stepped out of hiding and walked over to Gaara's prone body. Now that he was close he saw he was staring off into space at nothing in particular.

"You fought well Gaara, but it wasn't good enough to win." Naruto said as he went to pick the guy up but was forced to jump back as sand tried to crush him under its immense pressure.

Looking back at the other boy he frowned when he saw Gaara looking at him with fright and anger. "I won't let you extinguish my existence!"

With that shout he shot up like a bullet and ran as fast as he could at Naruto.

Naruto himself was wide eyed and startled at the amount of speed he was showing. 'That's the same speed me and Kakashi fought at!'

He just barely managed to dodge the attack that nearly took his head off.

Jumping back he saw Gaara coming at him again with his tail of sand this time. Doing three quick seals he replaced himself with a log nearby and got to safety using the substitution jutsu.

The second the log was shattered Naruto jumped down from above with two kunai in each hand ready to strike him down.

He never got the chance to as Gaara shot sand shuriken at him while he was still in mid air. Using his kunai he managed to block ten of them but five of them still got through his hasty defense and hit him directly.

He went sailing back and slammed into a tree leaving a dent in the thing. Getting back up fast he, threw the two kunai at the sand covered Gaara.

"Kunai Kage Bunshin No jutsu." (Shadow Clone Kunai)

The two kunai turned into fifty that were impossible to dodge. Gaara raised his huge sand covered arms up to guard his body. All of the kunai were effectively stopped with out causing harm to Gaara himself.

When he looked up again, he found a foot in his face.

He flew back and landed on his back hard on the ground. When he could open his eyes from the pain he saw Naruto making seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fire Ball)

All Gaara could see was a huge wall of flames coming at him from above. He raised his arms up and directed all of his extra sand to surround him.

When the inferno stopped, all Naruto saw was a dome of glass around Gaara. He could see Gaara himself inside getting ready to punch said glass.

Widening his eyes he jumped behind a tree for cover. He could hear the glass impact into the wood and when he stepped out from behind the tree he saw Gaara right in front of him with a clawed hand raised.

Gaara saw his chance and took it only for the Naruto in front of him to puff out of existence.

Naruto sighed in relief at leaving the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) in his place. He came out of his own hiding to see Gaara looking right at him with one eye to be yellow with a black cross for a pupil.

Knowing that the demon was getting more and more control he decided to finish this fight.

Racing over towards Gaara, Naruto made some hand seals. Gaara brought up his hands to swipe at Naruto only for him to be replaced with a log.

He turned around when he heard a swishing noise and saw Naruto coming at him with a ball of Chakra that just radiated power.

Knowing that that ball of Chakra was very dangerous he shot some more sand shrunkens at Naruto.

Naruto dodged these all by jumping down to the tree below him and running upside down on it.

Right when he was below Gaara he pushed the ball of energy into the tree directly below Gaara's feet.

The tree branch exploded upward on Gaara and Naruto came with it with the ball of chakra in his right hand. He pulled back and thrust the attack into Gaara's chest.

"Rasengan!" (Spiraling Spear)

The attack hit dead on and started to grind into the sand. Within two seconds the sand was flying all around and getting closer and closer to flesh. 

Gaara himself was too surprised, and in pain to do anything so he just tried to live through it.

A second later the Rasengan blew up and shot Gaara upward into the air crashing through branches as he went. He then started falling down back to earth and picking up speed as he went. To add to the devastation Naruto appeared in front of him when he was falling and imbedded two kunai with exploding tags on them to each of his sand arms.

He then pushed off him using his legs to get to safety adding to the speed Gaara was falling.

Just ten feet above the ground the tags on the kunai exploded making him go even faster. He hit the forest floor hard.

The resulting crash shook the earth for a good two hundred feet.

Naruto landed panting and as he stood up he walked over towards the prone Gaara as the dust settled.

He was just lying there surprisingly still conscious. Naruto looked astonished at the other boy a year his younger.

"I'm surprised you're still conscious." Naruto said when he was within hearing range.

Gaara tilted his head to the side to look at him and fear passed over his facial features.

Naruto saw this and smiled lightly at him. "You don't have to fear me Gaara."

Gaara by the looks of fright didn't believe him.

Sighing he shook his head. "Look you attacked me and I defended. I have no intention of killing you though by all reasons I should." The look of fear increased but Naruto ignored it.

"But I'm not going to for a couple of reasons. One is I could have turned out like you and I guess this is just sentimental seeing as what I could have become if I had Kyuubi sealed in me." He again rubbed a phantom pain on his right shoulder but this went unnoticed by Gaara.

"The second reason is if I killed you it could cause conflict between our villages and start a war. I'm sure Suna wouldn't be to happy about losing there weapon to an ally village."

Here Gaara looked away and Naruto noticed this. He cocked his head side ways in confusion and Gaara saw this out of the corner of his eyes and decided to explain as he couldn't really do anything else and he was at this guy's mercy.

"Suna wouldn't care if I died. They would actually be happy." Naruto raised an eye brow at this.

"Why would they want to loss there living weapon?" He asked confused.

"I'm considered dangerous because I am mentally unstable with Shukaku constantly demanding blood." Gaara explained. "I kill people when he demands it, even Suna civilians and ninja alike." He said much to the shock of Naruto.

"Well… that sucks." Gaara gave him a blank stare before turning his head to look at the clouds.

"How are you so strong?" He suddenly asked after an uncomfortable silence.

Naruto shrugged. "I train and work my ass off so I can do what I do. It also helps to have motivation."

Gaara looked interested at the last part. "Like killing people for ones existence?"

Naruto shook his head no. "No, my motivation is to protect those precious to me as my girlfriend calls them." Here he gave a happy grin at being able to say the word girlfriend.

"Precious people?"

Naruto raised an eye brow at the prone form of Gaara's body and nodded his head yes. "Ya… precious people… you know your friends and family if you have any."

"I don't have any friends and my family considers me a demon also." Gaara said in a monotone voice but you could see the loneliness in his eyes.

Naruto's face turned into a frown and then a grin spread across his face not a second later. "Hey Gaara." Naruto asked to get his attention which he did.

"How would you like it if I was your first friend?" He asked with a grin.

Gaara's face showed his shock. "Friend?"

"Yep! You and I aren't that different anyways. We both are powerful for our age, and we both love fighting, though you kill too much from what I've seen." He said with a foxy grin.

Gaara was staring at him with wide eyes. He couldn't believe this; this guy he wanted to kill not just ten minutes ago was asking to be friends.

"I… I…" Was all that he could get out of his stunned mouth.

Naruto's smile fell but he kept the grin on his face. "That's O.K.; you can answer some other time. In the mean time let's talk about this seal you have."

Gaara's attitude went from stunned silence to a glare. "What do you want to know about my seal Namikaze?" He asked while leaking some of his killing intent that he could.

Naruto just brushed the killing intent off like it was nothing. "I just want to see what kind it is so I can find out what's wrong with it. Oh and call me Naruto, Namikaze is too formal for friends."

"Why do you want to know how it works?" He kept his glare brushing aside he called him a friend again.

Naruto's looks hardened from the smile some what. "I'm a seal expert in training. I know a thing or two about seals and if I can figure out what's wrong with yours, I could maybe fix it for you and then Shukaku wouldn't be able to call for blood again."

"You mean you can fix it?" He asked sharply with some hope in his voice.

"I don't know. I'll have to look at it fist." Naruto told him truthfully.

Gaara looked hesitant but nodded his acceptance a few seconds later. "Will I be able to sleep then?"

Naruto looked confused. "You can't sleep?"

Gaara nodded his head in the affirmative. "Every time I go to sleep Shukaku tries to take over my body."

Naruto looked startled. "So when was the last time you slept? Now I know why you have those black rings around your eyes though."

Gaara sighed tiredly. "I get about five minutes of sleep ever few days but besides that I haven't slept since I was four." He told truthfully.

Narutos eyes widened considerably at this information. "Damn…" Was all he could say.

Gaara simply kept looking up at the sky through the patch in the trees. After a silence that lasted a long time, Naruto sighed.

"Well, let me look at the seal and see if I can do anything about it." Naruto asked and Gaara nodded.

"The seal is on my upper chest." Naruto nodded and pulled out a kunai and walked over to Gaara.

He went to cut open his shirt but was stopped by the automatic sand that came to stop him. The sand rapped around the kunai and held it there. Naruto looked at Gaara in alarm but he looked like he was concentrating very hard.

A few seconds later the sand fell off the kunai and Gaara nodded his head to Naruto to go ahead.

Naruto brought the kunai down and cut open his shirt but was on high alert. "Why did your sand stop me? I thought you wanted this?" He asked as he looked at the seal while putting chakra into it so it came visible.

"The sand is automatic; it sees a threat and stops it even with out my consent. I think Shukaku controls it or at least his instincts do." Naruto nodded at the answer and concentrated on the seal.

'Wow only a three point seal. I don't know much about seals yet, but I do know this shouldn't be able to hold a demon. Nothing less than a four point seal can hold one effectively.' He thought as he kept examining.

This went on for another few minutes until Gaara's patience was wearing thin. "Well, can you fix it?" He demanded to know.

Naruto stood up and walked ten steps away and leaned against a tree. "To tell you the truth, I know very little about seals right now. I'm a novice at best. But I do know the different types and what some of them do." Gaara was disturbed by the novice thing, but relaxed when he said he knew what some did,

Naruto continued ignoring the frightened look caused by his words. "Anyways, I know that you have a three point seal on you. I don't know how it works but I do know that nothing below a four point seal can hold something like a demon back."

"Then how is it holding back Shukaku?" Gaara asked confused.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "To tell the truth I have no idea. In all reality it should be able to get out. My guess is that you're keeping him at bay just with your mental blocks and chakra alone." He said gravely.

Gaara nodded in understanding. "That is probably right. I've had to fight off Shukaku from taking my body under control before."

"I see." Naruto said still in deep thought.

"So… can you fix it?" Gaara asked hopefully.

Naruto lowered his head. "I can't." Gaara's sighed hearing this but turned back to listen when he continued talking. "But I do know some one that can."

Gaara perked up at this. "Who?" He demanded.

Naruto smirked. "My sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Gaara nodded his head in understanding as he has heard of the Sannin before. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, he knows his stuff when it comes to seals. He's no master but I know he could fix a seal that hold a demon up to a six point seal." Naruto said confidently.

Gaara nodded happily. 'If he can really fix my seal… then maybe I should tell them about the invasion.' He thought to himself.

He was broken from his thought when Naruto approached him. "Come on, I'll take you to him right now."

Gaara nodded and accepted the hand that he was given. Once standing he tried to walk only to stumble and have Naruto catch him and put his arm around his shoulder for support. He gave him a thankful node which Naruto responded to with a small 'no problem' under his breath.

As they walked Naruto noticed that ever once in a while Gaara would cringe and shake his head.

After this happened a couple of times he got confused and slightly worried and decided to ask what was wrong.

"Gaara is some thing wrong?"

Gaara didn't even seem to have heard him as he continue to shake his head causing Naruto stop walking and stare at him.

"Gaara?" No response came.

He tried again. "Gaara?"

While Naruto was talking to him Gaara was in an internal conflict. 'Leave me alone Shukaku!' He all but yelled in his head.

The demon heard this through the mental link the seal gave them. 'You will not yell at me boy! You will kill this human now!'

Gaara shuck his head trying to get rid of the voice. 'I won't kill him. He said he could fix the seal so you will never bug me again!'

Gaara heard a roar of outrage from the demon and grabbed his head in pain. 'You will do no such thing human! I won't let you seal me away more!'

Gaara clutched his head in pain feeling the demon start to fight for control. He cried out in pain not noticing the worried look from Naruto.

'I won't let you take control Shukaku!' He yelled in an attempt to over power the demon lord.

Narrowing its eyes inside of its host is let its full power out in a storm. The chakra came at a rush and Gaara gritted his teeth in pain. 'You don't have a choice in the matter human. I will take control and kill this garbage myself if you won't!' It shouted pushing all of its chakra out through Gaara's body.

"Gaara!" Naruto yelled startled feeling the rise of chakra but not human chakra, demon chakra.

This time he got a response but not the one he wanted. Sand shot out from his guard that he was still caring on his back and came right for him.

Jumping back he dodged the sand with ease and looked at Gaara startled. "Gaara, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" He asked angrily.

Gaara looked at him and when their eyes meet Naruto took an involuntary step back.

He was looking at one green and one yellow eye. One eye he recognized as Gaara's and the other he recognized as Shukaku's eye.

Stealing his nerves he spoke in a calm but demanding voice. "Gaara, what are you doing?"

Gaara looked up from clutching his head, crying out in pain, and mumbling to look directly at Naruto. "Get away!"

Naruto looked confused but the next thing Gaara said frightened him.

"Shukaku's getting out! Get away now!" Gaara all but yelled at him.

Author Notes…

"My first cliff hanger!!!! I'm so evil… YES! I have succeeded in the tormenting of others Asuma-sensei!" Naruto yelled out to the person that was not but two feet in front of him.

Of course this did not go well for Naruto. "You will not start acting like Gai and Lee Naruto!" He yelled in irritation.

"But…"

"No buts! Give me fifty laps around the village for even thinking it!" Asuma yelled in outrage.

"HAI!" Naruto yelled scared out of his mind at seeing his sensei with a murderous look in his eyes.

Well that's the chapter for ya. I hoped you liked it and my first cliffy!!!! YES!!!!

Thanks to those who did review. Next chapter comes out when ever it does… no promises as I can't keep them with my schedule.

As always I will answer any questions asked with a PM or reply.

Battousai222


	15. Shattering Glass Reveals War

Well it's been a while now. I don't have much to say really so ya… Enjoy the chapter and have a great life.

Been having a REALLY hard time getting myself to type. I just can't seem to find the motivation to type anymore sadly. I won't give up though. I plan to finish this story some day… hopefully.

Now to the part you all want to see… the next chapter of my story!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Shattering Glass Reveals War

Naruto heard Gaara yell out to him and it took him a second to figure out what he meant. He repeated it in his head once and only once before he got it.

'Shukaku's getting out! Get away now!' Gaara all but yelled at him.

Eyes widening, he jumped back when he sensed a huge build up of chakra and saw sand coming towards Gaara in building size loads per second.

Turning around he ran as fast and hard as he could from the immediate area. Looking back when there was a pulse of chakra, he saw that is was a very good idea to run for cover.

For when he looked back he saw a huge body of sand. It was at least one hundred feet tall and when the thing opened its eyes they were both yellow with a cross.

"No… the demon has gotten out some how!" Naruto said to himself as he racked his brain for answers on what to do.

He was forced out of his thoughts as sand rushed at him from every direction. Startled by the pure amount of sand Naruto was caught for a split second with his guard down. That was all Shukaku needed.

The demon looked down at its prey and snarled. "I will not be sealed again human!"

"Sabaku Kyu." (Desert Coffin)

Naruto looked for any way out but it was too late. All he could do was a few quick seals before he was crushed.

"Futon: Daitoppa." (Great Breakthrough)

He held both his hands out to the sides and let his chakra explode with the wind. Using his wind element to his advantage he had the wind turn back around after it blew away the initial sand and come for another hit.

The wind was severely weaker but it did the trick. It managed to blow an opening big enough for him to get through.

He took the chance the second it opened itself. He jumped through the sand wall and onto another branch. He looked up to see Shukaku's gigantic face twisted into glee.

"You are strong for a human, but you will die none the less!" He heard the raccoon demon roar at him.

He jumped back from another onslaught of sand and went into a full blow run away from the demon. He took to the trees and went to the very top. He took a glance behind himself and saw the demon following him by just walking. Gritting his teeth he turned ninety degrees and stopped.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could sense the sand moving in on him but he gave it no heed. He snapped his eyes open and disappeared after a single step. He reappeared on another branch some twenty feet away and quickly hide behind some of the trees.

He noticed Shukaku seemed to be confused by his disappearance and he knew that was true when he heard the things voice. "Come out of hiding human flesh bag!"

Gritting his teeth he tried to think of a way to stop him. He looked out from his hiding spot at the demons head to see it stomping on trees here and there trying to find him. He strained his eyes to see it, but he eventually saw Gaara's prone body on top of Shukaku's head dangling as if he was unconscious.

'That's it! Jiraiya-sensei said something about this… what was it though… come on Naruto remember damn it! Remember!'

Then it hit him as if he was stabbed in the back with a kunai. He remembered one of Jiraiya's many lessons on seals. 'If a seal is weak or put on incorrectly it could cause problems, but for this case, in a demon vessels case, it would cause mental unbalance. With this the person would most likely not be able to sleep and when he fell unconscious he would unconsciously let the demon he holds out.'

He cursed his luck at this point. 'Damn it, now I got a renegade demon on the loose. SHIT! I can't beat a demon, let alone a demon lord even if it is the weakest.' He thought desperately remembering there were nine demon lords with Shukaku being the weakest of them all.

'But I don't have to beat him; I just have to wake Gaara up…' He thought coming up with a decent plan that might actually work.

Tilting his head around his tree, he saw all the destruction the demon had caused in this short amount of time. 'H-he destroyed almost an entire mile of forest in that little amount of time!' He thought astonished.

'Wait… even if we are out ten miles from the village… I'm sure people have seen the giant demon or at least felt its chakra… not good that means other shinobi will get here soon!'

With that thought he bit his thumb drawing blood and started his plan.

Shukaku was starting to get frustrated with not finding the human that wanted to seal him. He was just about to yell again when he felt a chakra pulse and a human cry.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summing)

The demon looked startled when a huge amount of smoke appeared with the shout of the jutsu.

Not a second later though it found out what caused the smoke to appear. There in front of the demon was the toad boss, Gamabunta.

Gamabunta himself looked around and was puzzled about where it was until it saw Shukaku's equally massive sand form in front of him.

Eyes widening in understanding instantly he jumped back with a huge leap and landed on the ground in a crouch in a defensive stance ready for an attack at a moments notice.

The toad boss looked around and found its summoner to be on top of its head. He narrowed his eyes at the fourteen, almost fifteen year old standing their.

"What's with you and your father fighting demons brat?!" The giant toad asked irritated.

Naruto looked down at the toad he was standing on and sweat dropped at the first thing he had to say when he summoned him.

"What! You think I want to fight Shukaku?! Are you nuts?!" He yelled back irritated at him even suggesting it.

Gamabunta snorted and flew some smoke out of his pipe through the corner of his mouth. "Ya what ever brat."

"Will you stop calling me brat?!" Naruto snapped back at the nickname him, Jiraiya, and Asuma kept calling him.

The frog snorted again and was about to reply and continue there insult/greeting but was forced to do other wise.

Hopping backwards, he dodged the clawed swipe of Shukaku. "That was a little to close for comfort. So why do you have me fighting one of the demon lords exactly?" He asked getting to business seeing the danger they were both in.

Naruto also became serious. "As you probably know this is Shukaku the one tailed sand demon."

The toad nodded again as he dodged yet another swipe from the deadly looking claws.

"He some how escaped through his container and wants to kill me for suggesting I get his containers seal fixed to stop his influence on him." He said while applying chakra to his feet to stay on the toads head while he hopped around.

"I see." Was the only response the toad gave besides the narrowing of the eyes to see the container himself still on the demons head unconscious.

"Well we better wake him up ha?" He asked sarcastically.

Naruto rolled his eyes at his boss summon. "No figures… you think of that on your own?"

The toad grunted in response and drew his dagger from the scabbard.

"Hang on tight kid… this is where the real fight begins!" The toad bellowed out before tensing his muscles.

"Right! Let's go Gamabunta!" Naruto yelled out placing extra chakra into his feet. With that the toad leapt straight forward right at Shukaku's startled form.

Before the demon could even react, the toad was already right in front of him with his dagger imbedded into his shoulder.

The toad grunted in exertion and pressed harder until he managed to cut straight through it with an extra push from its powerful hind legs.

Flying through the air, it landed with a crunch in the earth shattering some trees skidding on the ground. Turning around it saw the sand arm dissolve and loose its form a few hundred feet away from the demon.

The demon itself let out a cry of pain at having its arm cut off but then suddenly stopped and turned instantly on the toad. "You will die toad!"

With that declaration and a push of its demonic chakra the arm re-grew like nothing.

Naruto and Gamabunta's eyes widened in shock. "This just got harder." The toad said when it saw this.

Shukaku sucked in a huge amount of air and its stomach expanded exponentially. When it was at its maximum capacity, it hit its stomach with its fist letting all the compressed air out at once.

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet)

The compressed air came right at the startled Gamabunta and he was forced to jump to the side to avoid it.

Shukaku obviously knew he could avoid it as right when he landed he saw another air blast coming right at him.

Jumping again this time further to the side he landed again in safety only to find another one coming at him. He was about to jump the same way again when he saw another air blast already heading in that direction.

Not having enough time to jump back the way he came he was forced to jump straight upwards.

Shukaku saw this and grinned an insane grin. "I got you now!"

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet)

With that, he shot out four air bullets straight up at the toad.

The toad seeing this made his own jutsu.

"Suiton: Teppodama." (Gunshot)

His stomach seemed to expand just like Shukaku's did, except when he let his stomach deflate he shot out water bullets of equal size.

The two attacks collided head on and created huge torrents of water and wind to be scattered around effectively canceling out each other.

Then out of one of the explosions, another air bullet came right at Gamabunta. Not having enough time to stop it he was hit directly in the stomach.

Flying back he landed on his back with Naruto some how keeping on his head. However, he was shaken up just as much as Gamabunta was.

"Are you ok Bunta?" He asked in fear.

The said toad boss just grunted in pain and stood back up on shaky legs. "I'm fine brat but we need a better plan than this to win."

Naruto nodded in understanding, if they kept this up they would surly loose.

"Give me some oil Bunta!" Naruto yelled out on top of his head.

"Sure thing!" With that the toads stomach expanded once again getting ready for an attack.

Shukaku turned when he heard the toad groan in pain and narrowed its eyes at it. "Die human!" It yelled out sending a wave of sand out in front of it to run over the toad and the human on top of it.

Naruto saw this and smirked. He was hoping he would do something like this. "Now Bunta!"

With that, the toad let its stomach deflate and with it came a torrent of oil heading straight for the incoming wall of sand.

Naruto himself made some seals and held his hand up to his mouth.

"Katon: Karyu Endan." (Fire Dragon Flame Missile)

The fire went from his mouth and went straight to the oil. The two combined effectively making a massive firestorm heading straight for the incoming wall of sand.

The two hit with a resounding boom that Naruto was sure all of Konoha heard.

Getting up from the massive shockwave of the explosion, Gamabunta saw a wall of glass separating him and Shukaku.

"Now Bunta! Cut the glass and launch it at the demon." Naruto yelled in hast hoping they got there before Shukaku had the same idea.

Widening his eyes in understanding, he had to repress a smirk at his summoner's ingenious plan.

Leaping forward he unsheathed his dagger and cut the wall of glass no less then ten times in less then three seconds time showing how fast he could truly be when he wanted to be.

Sheathing his blade, he noticed the demons eyes widening in understanding. However, it was far too late by now.

Leaping forward, Gamabunta did a flip and made his hind legs land on the glass wall and pushed as hard as he could causing the glass to shoot towards Shukaku.

He landed on the ground on his front legs, not even looking at the damage he caused and pushed backwards with his hind legs, hitting the glass again causing it to shoot out the last four pieces of razor sharp glass at the startled demon.

Shukaku himself saw the glass coming and tried to move but found it wasn't fast enough and had both its arms cut off and the side of its stomach cut open.

It cried out in excruciating pain, but was cut off when he saw four more pieces of glass coming his way.

He could do nothing but watch in fear as the first piece hit its left leg causing part of it to be taken right off like it was paper.

The next one hit its shoulder causing him to turn slightly and cry out in even more pain.

The third piece hit what was left of its stomach and cut clear through the rest of it, causing it to be split in two horizontally.

It fell forward having no lower body to support itself and no arms to catch itself. It looked up to see the last piece of glass heading straight for its head.

Eyes widening in terror because even though it was made of sand it could still feel pain as his chakra ran trough every grain of sand. So far, it was in absolute excruciating pain like none it had ever felt before.

When the last piece of glass hit, it went straight through the all ready falling apart sand and cut the head clean off the upper torso of the body.

With no body to hold it out in the world and its chakra running dangerously high in his container for his liking, it returned to the seal on Gaara.

After the last piece of glass was launched by its hind legs, Gamabunta turned around to see the results. What he saw surprised him greatly.

The body was falling apart slowly and Gaara was completely detached from the sand.

Naruto saw this and looked startled. "Gamabunta! Catch Gaara!" He shouted in alarm.

Gamabunta was surprised by this but didn't have time to ask why and still save him. With a leap, it flew across the clearing and as he passed the falling sand he shoot out his long tongue and caught the falling human named Gaara inside it.

Landing in a crouch, he lowered his tongue to the ground and unrolled Gaara from his grasp. Naruto jumped down right as he set him down and looked at the exerted form of Gaara.

Some how he was barely awake but he was staring at Naruto in astonishment unable to use words.

"Don't talk Gaara, your hurt pretty badly and suffering from chakra exhaustion. Just rest now, we'll get your seal fixed later." Naruto said in all honestly hoping the fight was done as he could sense he was on the verge of chakra exhaustion also. He felt he could pull off one more C-rank jutsu before he past out himself.

Gaara just nodded his head the slightest in understanding and leaned his head against the ground trying to understand how he was beat even with Shukaku in control, even though he didn't want that to happen was irrelevant.

Naruto seeing him comply with his request turned to Gamabunta and looked up to him.

"I couldn't have won without ya Bunta!" Naruto said happily.

Gamabunta looked down at him and sighed in irritation. "You're just like your father boy."

Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion.

Seeing this he explained. "You father was just as strong and smart as you are. He would be proud of you."

Naruto smiled happily hearing this and Gamabunta smirked down at him.

"But don't summon me to fight any more demons ever again! Fighting two in fifteen year's time is bad enough brat!" He yelled out pissed off and rubbing his wounds.

Naruto had the decency to look sorry and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry boss!" He yelled sincerely out.

The toad just grunted and stood up to its full height towering over the trees again. "Until the next time you need my help Naruto. You can always count on the toads for assistance."

"Thanks again Bunta! I'll buy you a drink some time soon!" Naruto yelled out happily.

Said toad looked back down and seemed to grin. "I look forward to it!"

With that, the giant toad burst into smoke, returning to his home world.

Sighing tiredly, Naruto turned around and walked over to Gaara's prone body. "Well neither of us can really move that far so we're stuck here until help arrives."

Gaara looked at him from the corner of his eyes and then went back to staring at the clouds. "Help?"

Naruto heard the confusion in his voice and elaborated as he sat against a tree to rest himself. "What, you really don't think all those jutsu, chakra, and explosions didn't get heard or felt at Konoha?" He asked exasperated.

Gaara saw his point by the widening of his eyes and nodded his head in understanding. "I'll be arrested for being found with you injured like you are." He stated as fact.

Naruto grunted. "Hai, but if I tell them to just bring you with me to the hospital they will have to listen. I am their superior after all."

Gaara had nothing to say to that and Naruto was satisfied with the silence so he stayed quite himself.

Not but ten minutes later an Anbu squad arrived with the Hokage leading them.

When they landed the Hokage instantly started to look for Naruto because it was reported that Gamabunta was spotted and it was either Naruto or Jiriaya. It couldn't be Jiriaya because he was in the hospital being healed from a beating at the hot springs.

Apparently a girl with brown eyes saw him peaking on him and was a skilled kunoichi. She and the other kunoichi attacked and she froze his lower body in ice with a jutsu. If Naruto found out about this, Jiriaya would surely die or be in the hospital even longer than he will be now.

Shaking his head when he spotted Naruto he ran over to him barely giving a glimpse to the other boy lying a few yards away on his back.

"Naruto are you ok? What happened here?" He asked quickly taking in the surroundings and Naruto's somewhat beat up body and signs of chakra exhaustion that worried him.

Naruto just sighed. "I'm fine Oji-san." He got a glare from said man who was the Hokage.

Naruto saw this and smirked. "Fine, Hokage-sama, better?" Naruto asked in a clearly amused voice.

Sarutobi just glared at him harder.

Chuckling, Naruto winced and grabbed his ribs. "That's going to leave a bruise." He said wincing again.

Sarutobi looked pointedly at him for an explanation. "Report Namikaze!" His voice was all business.

When Naruto heard that tone, he straightened up on instinct and looked at the Hokage with serious eyes of his own.

"I encountered and fought Sabuku no Gaara in a life and death battle and came out on top Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi's eyes widened somewhat and he turned his head over to the other boy lying on the ground a few yards away. He instantly saw the Anbu move and surround him ready to take action. He turned back to Naruto when he heard him speak again.

"Leave him be though Hokage-sama." Naruto said with a voice lased with hope that he would listen. Said man looked Naruto in the eye and saw that sparkle that made everyone you know want to be friends with him. He didn't know how he did it but that look convinced him to at least hear him out.

"All right Naruto." With that, he motioned the Anbu to stand down which they did a second later.

"Though you still have to explain this whole thing to me and why a portion of the forest is now missing."

Naruto nodded in return and Sarutobi helped him up and put one of his arms around his shoulders in a sling. He motioned for one of the Anbu to pick up Gaara and the captain of the group did as instructed and they soon left back towards the village.

On the way Sarutobi asked what really happened to cause him such fatigue but Naruto told him to wait until they were at the hospital and in a secure location.

Once they arrived, they went straight to the hospital and were given immediate attention over everyone else there, much to Sarutobi's relief and amusement at Naruto's groan of hospital stay, again!

Once they were both patched up and asked to just rest it was just Naruto, Gaara, and Sarutobi left in the room to talk.

Sarutobi gave Naruto a pointed look that he knew well. It meant, 'start talking or else.'

"Can you put up a silencing jutsu Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked. Sarutobi gave him a look of 'why' but did so anyways.

Once that was done Naruto proceeded to tell what happened from the point he left the hospital through the back door to when he was found.

Throughout the whole story, the Hokage kept giving Gaara stares of either astonishment or pity. Either way Gaara really didn't care as he kept staring out the window at nothing in particular.

When the story was done Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and sighed tiredly. "Well I'm glad you didn't kill him Naruto." This got both Naruto and Gaara's attention.

Seeing this he continued. "The relationship between Suna and Konoha is bad enough as it is. I wouldn't be surprised if they backed out of the contract of peace we have with them right now." His voice was grave and tired.

Naruto looked interest at this news. "Why, is it because the wind dyaimo is giving missions to other villages other then Suna ninja, at least that's what I've heard?"

Sarutobi just nodded his head as he was looking at Gaara's reaction from the corner of his eyes. When he said they might back out of the alliance they had, he saw Gaara twitch just slightly, but he saw it none the less.

He narrowed his eyes in thought at what he learned earlier today from Jiriaya. He was forced out of his thought though, when Gaara spoke up.

"This is all very interesting and all but I would like to know when I could get this seal fixed before Shukaku decides to go crazy again and force a take over of my body against my will when I'm weak in the future." He said in a neutral tone belittling his true feelings on the matter which were actually raging in doubt to happiness to finally be ride of the demons influence.

Naruto looked ready to reply when Sarutobi held up a hand stopping him.

"I'm sorry to say this Gaara, but Jiraiya won't be able to look at your seal for a few more days' time." Naruto looked confused at this while Gaara kept his face neutral.

"Why wouldn't he be able to look at it right now? He was fine this morning at the waterfall." Naruto asked curiously.

Sarutobi looked anywhere but at Naruto. "Well…" He trailed off not knowing how he would react.

"What did he do this time?" Naruto asked in exasperation. He knew very well of his sensei's little spying. He had been asked on many occasions to go with him. He down right refused every time and was rewarded with the same response almost every time.

"Your loss." He would say before grinning lecherously and then almost skipping to the hot springs to spy on naked women. He had also been one of the people that got his perverted sensei caught in the act and beat by the women often.

He came out of his thoughts when he saw Sarutobi fidgeting uncomfortably. "Oh come on old man, it couldn't be that bad."

Sarutobi glared for the old man comment but let it go this time. It was just too much work some times to argue with the boy. "His entire lower body from waist down was frozen in ice after a beating from the women at the hot spring." He said quickly.

Naruto took a second to understand what Sarutobi said and then shrugged. "Ya, that's nothing… new…" Then he trailed off coming to a startling conclusion.

The room's temperature suddenly dropped several degrees and an unreal killing intent that made Shukaku actually quack in fear and go further inside his seal inside Gaara befell the room.

Naruto looked Sarutobi directly in the eyes and spoke in a calm but deadly voice.

"He wouldn't have happened to been spying on my girlfriend would he?" The tone of voice made the Hokage get a chill to run up his spine but other than that he didn't show any outward signs of fear.

"Hai, that's who froze his legs." He said quietly.

The killing intent suddenly stopped completely letting Gaara sigh in relief and Sarutobi to un-tense his muscles.

Naruto looked out the window and focused all his killing intent at a squirrel in the tree.

The squirrel froze in its spot and just feel over to its side out of the tree to land on the ground.

Lee happened to be right outside doing push ups when the squire landed a few feet away. His eyes widened and he ran over to it. "You poor squirrel! You need to get to the doctor right away!" Lee said noticing the shivering and twitching of the animal in his hands.

"If I can't get you to the vet in two minutes time I'll run around the village on my hands ten times!" Lee yelled while sprinting away in a green blur.

Naruto saw the squirrel fall most likely dead out of the tree. "Which room is he in?" He asked with a calm but deadly voice like before.

"I can't tell you that Naruto-kun." He said just waiting for the glare.

He didn't have to wait long. Not a second later he felt the full intent of a pissed off Naruto with small killing intent laced in. He just brushed the glare and killing intent off though. "Why the hell not?!" He asked enraged.

"You'd kill him in the condition he's in now." He said bluntly.

Naruto kept the glare but turned away with a grunt. "I wouldn't kill him; just beat the crap out of him until he can't move for a few weeks is all." He said childishly with a pout that the old man couldn't see.

Said man just smiled at the pouting voice laced with some anger. "That is true, but we still need him alive. You can get him later, ok?"

Naruto just crossed his arms over his chest and grunted. "Fine!"

Smiling he turned to Gaara. "You'll have to stay in the hospital until you are cleared to leave, but if I find you attacked any more Konoha ninja, demon or not, you will be executed." He said the last part deadly.

Gaara didn't even blink. "I understand Hokage-sama."

"Good, then there will be no problems what so ever. Now then, I have a lot of work to get done today and I'll tell you when Jiraiya is ready to look at your seal." With that he left the two alone in the same room to get some rest.

Two days later Naruto was walking down the road when he sensed a chakra signature that he has become rather familiar with lately.

He turned around to see none other then Sabaku no Gaara standing just twenty feet away from him. 'His stealth is at least mid Jounin level.' Naruto thought as he looked at him.

"Hokage-sama said Jiraiya is recovered enough to look at my seal now." Was his only reply to Naruto's raised eyebrow.

Naruto nodded in understanding of why he was here. "Where is he now?" He asked with a slight twitch of his lips, clearly remembering the info he learned from the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama said he was waiting at the hot springs." All he saw was Naruto's eye twitch before he was forced to tilt his head side ways to avoid a cat coming at his head.

The thing jumped right past him and scurried along the road before it went around the corner.

When he looked back at Naruto he saw he was gone. He looked around and could find absolutely no clue on where he went. He shrugged and guessed he went to the hot springs already.

Just as he was about to walk down the road to the said hot springs he heard yelling and this time had to jump into a tree to avoid being run over by three genin by the looks of it, yelling about demon cats or something.

Blinking in confusion, he shook his head and disappeared in a swirl of sand.

Five minutes later he arrived at the hot springs to see an odd sight. Naruto was standing over a person that was in a crater. The person inside said crater was twitching and mumbling about righteous women beatings and evil apprentices.

Naruto was standing kicking him in the ribs. "That's what you get for peaking on Haku-chan in the hot springs ero-sennin. If I catch you watching her again I'll personally give you a demonstration of Kakashi's prized taijutsu move."

Gaara was confused by that comment but judging by the shiver and muffled cry from the man in the crater he guessed it must hurt.

Then as if nothing happened, Jiraiya stood up from his crater with nothing but a bloody lip which he solved by wiping on his sleeve.

Naruto then turned around when he finally noticed Gaara was here. He motioned him over and gestured to Jiraiya.

"This is Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of my sensei's. He's the one I told you about that could fix your seal." Naruto said as he hit his said sensei in the head as he was starting to do a weird dance.

Gaara gave Naruto a pointed stare. "This person… he's the one that's supposed to be a seal master… I don't believe you."

Jiraiya's eyes lit up in anger and he instantly appeared at Gaara's side. "I'll have you know I'm great with seals, I even taught the Yondaime all he knew about seals." He said proudly.

Gaara was stunned. Not by the teaching of the Yondaime, but by the fact he was able to move so fast he couldn't even see him move, and he got by his automatic sand defense like it was paper.

"I see." Was all he could say as he got back his composure.

Jiraiya turned around and then started to walk away. As he walked, he turned to Naruto and Gaara. "Well, aren't you coming?" He asked while he continued to walk away.

Shrugging to each other they both followed the man into the nearby forest where they saw Jiraiya waiting for them on a tree branch.

"Come on, sealing can use a lot of chakra and can easily be a light show. I'd rather not have every ninja in the village come to us when I'm in the middle of a sealing, follow me."

With that he jumped away hopping from tree branch to tree branch. Gaara and Naruto followed without a word of resistance.

Five minutes later Jiraiya stopped and motioned for Gaara to come forward. He did so obediently. "Where's the seal located and are there any conditions that you have regarding the demon?" He asked bluntly with a serious face showing he really was a Sannin.

"It's on my upper chest." With that answer he took of his shirt and molded chakra into his chest area. The seal instantly became visible. He also explained what he told Naruto about the seal and how he couldn't sleep and Shukaku talking to him constantly.

Jiraiya leaned in to get a closer look at the thing when it appeared. "Hemmm." He hummed as he looked at the thing and ran a finger across certain things nodding or shaking his head as he went.

After three minutes of examination Jiraiya stood up. "I see." He said as he backed away from the boy to stand in front of him and Naruto who was a few feet away watching with interest on what he said about the seal.

"Can you do anything to make it stronger?" Gaara asked in a neutral tone but was praying he could do something on the inside.

Jiraiya nodded his head yes and looked him straight in the eye. "You're lucky you came to me when you did Gaara."

Said boy raised an eyebrow in questioning. Seeing this he elaborated more. "What you have there is a three point seal surrounded by a berserker seal to contain the stability. Now this would be a great seal if it where in any other case but yours."

He took a breath before continuing. "You see, to hold a demon and tailed demon no less at bay you need at least a four point seal. Since you don't have any seal masters in Suna I'm guessing they did the best they could which was a three point with a little burst of power with the berserker seal."

"That is all fine and dandy, only if you're holding an inanimate object. The berserker seal is designed as a buster for other seals but when used to hold something alive to say, it makes the thing sealed crazy, and the thing sealed into unstable. If you managed to live for another six years that seal of yours would have shattered with the Shukaku getting out and killing you in the process." He said gravely.

Gaara's eyes widened marginally but he steeled his nerves. "So can you fix it?" He asked again.

Jiraiya got into a thinking pose with his hand on his chin and snapped his fingers after a few seconds. "Hai, but it's going to be painful to fix, and you will most likely be out for at least a day, three at the max." He said seriously.

"The seal I'll be putting on is called a five point seal and I'm getting ride of the berserker seal and putting a one point elemental seal on instead. That's all you really need to fix the thing." He said matter of factly.

Gaara nodded his head accepting these terms. "Will their be any side affects?"

"Not any bad ones if that's what you're talking about. The only things I can see being a problem would you loose your ability to manipulate sand for a few hours a day until your body adjusts to the changes."

"How many days are we talking here?" Naruto asked before Gaara could as he was just as curious as Gaara was.

"I'd say about three days until your body is completely adjusted. After those three days you'll have to work on manipulating your sand again until it's at the same level as before. This should only take a week at most seeing as you've been doing it your entire life subconsciously already." Jiraiya explained to them.

"Very well, I'll do it." Gaara said.

"Great! All I need you to do is lie down on the ground and stay perfectly still until I'm finished. This shouldn't take more than an hour to do. Oh and before I forget, I made this seal for you, it's called O-Fuin (Subdue Seal), it will suppress all of the demonic chakra for a short amount of time to nothing. I want you to put this on your forehead and it will stop the demon from talking and your sand won't get in the way." Jiraiya said seriously.

Nodding his head he did just that. He instantly felt Shukaku stop yelling at him and to let him out to get there blood and it went completely silent. He gave faint smile at that and let his confidence grow for this to work.

"This will allow me to sleep right?" He asked suddenly. Jiraiya paused and then nodded.

"Hai, I can guarantee you'll be able to sleep Gaara." Jiraiya said giving him a glance on the floor. Gaara then watched as Jiraiya took out an ink bottle and a brush from a sealing scroll he had on his body.

Naruto watched on in fascination as Jiraiya worked like a master writing kanji after kanji on the ground to Gaara's body itself. The writing alone took twenty minutes and Naruto found himself staring open mouthed at the scene in front of him.

The kanji spread in a perfect circle all around gaara's body for five feet and his body itself had a complicated seal array and kanji all over his chest and arms.

Jiraiya then stood up and examined every seal around him with a critical eye and leaned down right in front of Gaara.

"Are you ready?" He asked with slight sympathy.

"Hai." Gaara said with no hesitation what so ever in his voice.

Jiraiya nodded and brought his right hand above his chest. "This is going to hurt like nothing you have ever felt before." He said before he brought his hand up and it started to glow blue with chakra.

A few kanji appeared on his fingertips but Naruto or Gaara couldn't make out what they said before he slammed his glowing hand into Gaara's chest making him jerk upwards in pain.

Jiraiya ignored this and pushed harder to make him stay put and let his chakra immediately start to work. The blue glow ignited all the seals on his body, which started to glow red, and they ignited the rest on the floor.

Naruto watched from a distance as all this happened and was amazed to see all the kanji and arrays of seals move along the floor and up to gaara's body to where the seal he already had was glowing bright red before it started to shift.

Gaara through all of this gritted his teeth in pain and tried to suppress a scream. When the kanji all got on his body and his own seal started to glow though he couldn't hold it in and screamed like there was no tomorrow.

Naruto and Jiraiya winced at the volume of the scream but ignored it to concentrate on the seal.

A minute later the seal finally stopped glowing and reshaping and Jiraiya let his hand off his bare chest releasing him from his hold.

Gaara was panting heavily and sweat was dripping off him in waves. Jiraiya made a few seals and held his right hand in front of him. He saw a kanji appear on his fingertip and Naruto read it as, 'Lightning' before he brought that finger down on the new seal.

The seal flashed bright white then slowly dimmed down to show an unconscious Gaara and Jiraiya kneeling over him.

"That took more out of me then I thought." Jiriaya said with some sweat forming on his brows. Naruto sprinted over to his side and looked at Gaara's new seal.

"Why'd you use a lightning element seal Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

Jiraiya looked over at him and sighed. "Shukaku is an earth user. True he only uses sand and then some wind, but he does use sand more often and that is a type of earth. The element will be able to hold even if he's more of a wind user though. That five element point seal will be more than enough, the element seal was just a buffer to add to the strength."

He explained himself and Naruto nodded his head in understanding and mentally remembered it for futures.

Standing, he gave his sensei a hand up which he gratefully accepted. "I'll take him back to the village to get some rest." Naruto said as a picked up Gaara with Jiraiya nodding his head.

"Don't take him to his team though." He said as they walked out of the area they were in.

Naruto looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"Don't you think they would freak out to see him sleeping?" He got a blank stare from Naruto telling him he didn't understand.

"Remember Gaara telling you he can't sleep?" He got a node so he continued. "Well his team would freak seeing him actually sleeping and they would run away thinking Shukaku going to come out." Naruto made an 'O' with his mouth in understanding.

Shaking his head he gave his student a once over. "So where are you going to take him?"

Naruto thought for a second. "He'll stay at my house. It should be big enough to fit him." He said with a shrug.

Jiraiya gave him a dead pan look. "Your house is big enough to fit thirty people let alone two." He said bluntly.

Naruto just shrugged. "Yeah I know, what's your point?"

Jiraiya just gave an exasperated sigh before leaving him to go do some more research.

When he said this Naruto gave him a dirty look that promised pain if he looked at a certain girl. Jiraiya saw this and just grumbled about brat students and ice users. He gave a shiver when he thought of the condition he was in just two days ago.

A day and a half later Gaara finally woke up. He instantly remembered what happened before he passed out. He was in excruciating pain getting his seal fixed. 'I guess he wasn't kidding.' He thought with a shudder of phantom pain.

He sat up in what he now realized was a bed. He looked around the room and saw it to be average in size with no distinguishing recognizable features in it.

He got up and headed to the door and looked outside. He was now standing in a hallway and he walked down it trying to find out where he was.

After ten minutes of twists and turns down hallway after hallway and getting to the same location over three times he finally found a way outside. He went through the door to find Naruto standing with a clone behind him with its hand on his back.

He watched in fascination as water seemed to form around Naruto's body before he turned his head his way and with a nod the clone puffed out of existence and the water fell to the ground. Just then did he notice that there were similar puddles all around the area.

"I see your awake Gaara, how do you feel?" He asked walking over towards him.

Gaara looked at his hands and then looked up at Naruto. "I feel the same. Am I supposed to feel different now?"

Naruto shrugged. "Jiraiya-sensei said you would feel the same so that's normal, but he also told me to ask you to try and hear Shukaku and then practice your sand manipulation as he said that would be all messed up."

Gaara nodded and closed his eyes listening to Shukaku. He was surprised when he didn't hear anything and he concentrated harder only to hear nothing.

"I don't hear him." He said stunned.

Naruto smiled at him. "That's great! He said that's the way it's supposed to be like. He also said that if you go into a meditation and concentrate only on him you should be able to contact him but not the other way around unless your life is in danger." Naruto recited what his sensei told him to say.

Gaara nodded pleased and smiled a small smile that Naruto hasn't seen yet on his face. Remembering he said to practice his sand manipulation, he did just that.

Raising his arm up so that it was horizontal to the ground, he tried to move the sand in his gourd. The sand moved right away but Gaara noticed it was slower by far.

Naruto also seemed to notice this. "Don't worry about it being slow. Remember Jiraiya-sensei said it might be that way at first. All you need to do is practice."

Gaara nodded and mentally told his sand to go back into his gourd and he turned back to Naruto. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for this." He said in all honesty.

Naruto just smiled at him knowingly. "There's no need to pay me back Gaara. After all what are friends for?" He ended with a grin.

Gaara looked confused until his own grin appeared on his face. "Hai, friends." He said somewhat happily and confused because he's never had a friend before.

"Actually there is a way to pay you back now that I think about it." Gaara said all of a sudden.

Naruto looked at him curiously. "There's no need to Gaara, really." He said waving him off.

"Hai, there is actually. Your village is going to be invaded during the Chunnin exams." He said bluntly causing Naruto to freeze in his tracks and turn on him sharply with a serious expression and a hard glare.

"What did you just say?" Naruto's voice was icy and sent an involuntary shiver down Gaara's spine. He was now looking at the killer of multiple A-rank nuke Nins and Jounin alike on missions, the feared Anbu captain of Konoha, 'Shunshin no Namikaze'.

When he looked at those eyes his body gave another involuntarily shiver. Even though he's killed people before himself and fought hardened ninja he couldn't help but shiver at the intensity of the glare and subtle killing intent leaking off Naruto in waves.

"The sound and sand villages are invading Konoha during the Chunnin exams." He repeated himself steeling his nerves.

Naruto kept his eyes narrowed and turned fully to him. "Why are you telling me this?"

Gaara stared right into his eyes unflinchingly even with the growing killing intent coming off Naruto. "You helped me so I'm returning the favor."

Naruto after a second of thinking nodded his head in understanding and let his killing intent subside but there was still a small amount leaking out involuntarily.

"I know Sand and Konoha have a shaky relationship right now but why attack and why would the new sound village attack us also?" Naruto asked relaxing somewhat.

"Sound village is lead by a former missing Nin of your village, I'm sure you know of him. His name is Orochimaru of the Sannin." Gaara explained keeping a neutral face the entire time.

Naruto clenched his fist hearing the name. 'Hebi-teme.' He thought to himself.

"And your village?" Naruto asked wanting to know the whole story.

"Suna for a few years now has slowly been loosing power." He started off still in a neutral voice. "The reason for this sudden loss of power is because of our Daimyo going to other villages for missions and not Suna. With our money supply going down so has our military power. When Orochimaru came to us with the proposition of gaining power by destroying the leaf village we jumped at the opportunity."

Naruto listened to all of this and was slowly clenching and unclenching his fist in anger. After a few seconds of calming breaths, he managed to calm himself completely.

"I see, in light of this news I have to ask you to accompany me to the Hokage's tower to speak with Hokage-sama." Naruto replied with no hint of a question but a demand.

Gaara simply nodded his head in understanding and followed the retreating form of Naruto. The trip back to the tower was walked in silence with neither talking.

Naruto's mind was whirling. 'An invasion, damn.' He thought while walking. Before they knew it, they were at the doors of the Hokage tower and were granted entrance immediately when Naruto said he had urgent news to report.

The secretary recognized Naruto instantly and called the Hokage over the intercom and told him of Naruto's emergency.

The elder Kage let them in immediately as Naruto only came with urgent news when it was dire.

Once inside Sarutobi greeted Naruto happily. "Naruto my boy how are you today?"

Naruto looked at him from the doorway and nodded curtly. "I'm fine Hokage-sama." The Kage took a serious face when he said this, Naruto did have urgent news.

He motioned for him to sit in front of him and Naruto nodded in understanding stepping aside to let Gaara in also. The old mans face didn't lose one bit of the seriousness but there was a bit of curiosity at the Suna genin's appearance.

Once they were both inside the room Naruto nodded for the old man to do the silencing jutsu on the room. Said man understood and went through fifteen seals and the room glowed blue once before the elder Kage nodded at Naruto to start.

Letting his shoulders slump he gave out a tired sigh. "Hokage-sama… there is no easy way to say this so I'll just say it right now. Konoha is going to be invaded during the Chunnin exams."

Naruto waited for the reaction to come but surprisingly it didn't come like he though it would from Sarutobi.

The only indication he showed of surprise would be the widening of his eyes. After he got his composure he sighed.

"I see, so the invasion is going to happen during the Chunnin exams finals then?" He stated more then asked.

Both Naruto and Gaara were surprised by how calm he was and were answered why he was so calm when he spoke up next.

"I already knew we were going to be invaded by another country, sound to be more precise, but not when, you just cleared that up for me Naruto." Sarutobi stated facts.

"The question is, how did you come across the information when I just found out about it only a month ago from the traitor Kabuto being interrogated by Ibiki?" He continued.

Naruto let his eyes widen marginally before he realized he was asked a question. "Ah… oh right, Gaara here told me of the invasion for thanks for getting his seal fixed, and it's not just sound, which the Kage is Orochimaru by the way, but sand also that are invading."

The old mans eyes narrowed at this little bit of information, he wasn't surprised about Orochimaru being the Kage seeing as he suspected that all along. With him showing up at the Chunnin exam second part and then Kabuto being a spy for sound village. "I see… is there anything else that I should know about?" He asked with a hard glare at Gaara.

Gaara was unaffected by the glare, but Naruto seeing this stepped in front of him. Sarutobi seeing this stopped his subtle killing intent and looked at Naruto curiously.

"He is not a threat Hokage-sama. I promise you that." Naruto said with full confidence.

Gaara decided to speak up at this point getting both of there attention again. "There is one more thing you should know." He started and continued when he had both entrapped in his words.

"Suna intended for me to be their main weapon by releasing Shukaku but I have no intention of helping in the war now Hokage-sama." He stated quickly seeing the old man getting up. After he sat down he continued.

"I have decided to not help in the invasion, I won't fight my own village but I won't help yours either. I'm sorry Hokage-sama but I still have connections with my village and my brother and sister would hate to leave the village because of me." Gaara stated in a monotone with some hints of care in his voice. He also tilted his head in a small bow to the Kage in the room.

Said Kage looked at him in the eyes for a good twenty seconds trying to find any lies in him but could find nothing but truth. "If that is the case, then so be it. I thank you for the information Sabuka no Gaara." He stated with a small bow of his head in return.

After addressing Gaara he turned his head to Naruto. "I want you to gather all the Anbu black ops and every Jounin you can by three O'clock today and have everyone here at my office by that time. I want only a few to know about the specific details of the invasion happening, the rest I want to just know we're on high alert. And make sure Kakashi is on time to." He ordered.

Naruto straightened and gave a curt nod in understanding.

"Both of you are dismissed. I expect you won't tell anyone that we know of the invasion." He stated sternly with no hint of humor in his voice.

"Hai, I won't tell anyone, not even my siblings until the invasion starts." He got a nod in understanding.

With all that out of the way they both left the building to do there own things. Naruto to get as many Jounin he could, and all the Anbu black ops, and Gaara to go think about his decision at his hotel room.

Back in his office Sarutobi glanced at the fourths carving on the monument and let a smile come to his face. "Your son is truly remarkable Minato. I know you would be proud if you were alive right now."

He turned back to his desk and saw the desk was almost full of papers to be signed. His left eye twitched but then he remembered the Kage Bunshin trick Naruto told him and smirked arrogantly.

Putting his hands in a cross seal three clones appeared beside him and started to work through the evils of paper work. Sarutobi himself looked around the room, and let all his senses scan the room on full alert for anything alive. After he was sure he found nothing he giggled pervertedly.

Going through a few seals and tapping the underside of his desk a small seal appeared. Biting his thumb he ran some blood over it and there was a puff of smoke. Catching the falling object he saw a prized 'Icha Icha Paradise' book. Opening it up he couldn't help but giggle pervertedly before he remember Kakashi's face when he heard the new shipment was coming to Konoha.

He personally assigned Hatake Kakashi himself to intercept the cargo shipment on its way to Konoha and guard it with his life. He was all too happy to do the job and the second the mission scroll was handed to him he was gone with a look of pure hope and happiness on his face.

Shaking those thoughts away he started to read his godly book while his clones glared at him with hatred for the paper work they had to do. Sarutobi seemed to not of noticed, as he was too engrossed in his book.

Author Notes…

Well there's the chapter. I really hope you enjoyed it tons. It was surprisingly hard for me to type it.

As always any questions will be answered in a reply or PM.

Oh and as for a update schedule… ya there is none what so ever. Life is to unpredictable and I honestly have no idea when next chapter will be out. So please don't bug me about it being late.

Also I have been getting TONS of new story ideas lately and it is bugging me like hell and I am having a hard time thinking about this story. So far I have thought of five new stories besides the three other ones I already have thought of and explained slightly on my profile. This is good and bad. Good because new story possibly. Bad because these new stories are making me forget small details of this story.

Any ways I'm sure you don't care about that. So review and thanks for reading my new chapter and story.


	16. Can You Fight the Good Fight

I'm back!

I must say a few things before I start the chapter though. One, I'm very thankful to all those out there who have stuck with me over my eight month absence and to those returning to continue reading my story. If you've forgotten some details about the story… well that sucks, but I don't blame you, as even I had to do a ten minute scan of my previous chapters to refresh my memory. I advise you to do the same if you don't remember.

Two, thanks for not harassing me to much about updating the thing. I got quite a few, but not even close to the amount I was expecting. Finally I'd like to say that I hope you will still enjoy my story after this very long wait.

Now onto what you all want… the new chapter!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Can You Fight the Good Fight

"There's a lot of people here Naruto-kun." Haku commented coming up from behind him.

"Hai, I know. Are you ready?" He asked suitably with some emphasis on ready. When she was standing beside him he grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

This got a small smile out of Haku and she squeezed in return. "Of course Naruto-kun."

With that small statement she let a small senbon needle slip from her sleeve right in-between their hands. With little twitches of their fingers they slid it back up her sleeve out of notice. All this was done so even a trained Jounin would have a hard time seeing the needle.

Looking around Naruto observed the crowd as they mingled about the upcoming matches of the finals in the Chunnin exams and placed some bets on who would win what match.

Naruto could easily see some important people here and then hundreds of Konoha citizens sitting around. Among those citizens he could see eleven Anbu with one Anbu captain standing around in various strategy points to protect everyone.

Narrowing his eyes he let his mind wander. 'If there are twelve Anbu shown, than that would mean there are twelve Anbu black ops hidden within the crowd. That should be more than enough with all the other Jounin in the stadium also.' He thought ideally.

He was brought out of his thought by Haku giving his hand a small squeeze. When he turned to her she tilted her head sideways. Following the direction she pointed to he saw Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma-sensei walking up to them.

Naruto nodded to each of them and Kurenai gave a sweat smile at them when she noticed the two's hands were together. She of course had heard about them going out already. Hell, no one in Konoha didn't know about the couple. How news spread so fast even she wouldn't know, even though she was one of the top people that spread said news around. Everyone in the village new by the next day thanks to her and a few other gossipers.

She was broken from her gossip thoughts when Gai spoke in his ever loud voice. "Naruto-kun, have you seen Kakashi around here yet?"

Naruto tilted his head to them again and shook his head no. "Have you?"

They each gave a negative. Naruto sighed and shook his head. "I'm going to have to beat some sense into him for showing up late… again." Naruto mumbled to himself so only Haku who was the closest could hear.

She giggled at the threat and pointed out to the arena. "It's starting Naruto-kun, let's just enjoy the matches while they last and worry about Kakashi and fighting later." She suggested.

Naruto gave a curt node which was repeated by the rest of their group that took seats around them and watched as the Chunnin potentials walked into the arena.

As they all made it to the center, Naruto and the rest of the audience noticed one key factor. Uchiha Sasuke was missing. Naruto groaned. "Figures, if Kakashi is late then Sasuke has to be late to. He's rubbing off on his student." The others could only shake their head in agreement.

Down in the arena the proctor of the third and final part of the exams, Genma looked over the examines' with a critical eye before speaking.

"As you know, you've all made it here to the finals of the Chunnin exams and this will be your final test to see if you have what it takes to become a Chunnin."

Seeing that he had their attention and only theirs he raised his voice so the entire crowd could hear around them. "The finals of the Chunnin exams will be a head to head fight between two opponents in an all out fight until the winner is declared. This can happen in multiple ways. Your opponent dies, you forfeit your match, or I declare a winner at which point you are to stop immediately or be disqualified and possibly killed for insubordination to refrain you from attacking your opponent." At this point the crowd was on the edge of their seat waiting to hear more.

"Each match will be chosen by drawing numbers from this box." At that moment another Chunnin materialized beside him with the use of shunshin and smoke holding a metal box.

"Now I want each of you to draw one number when my fellow Chunnin passes you and show me what it is so I can put it up on the electrical board for the crowd to see. There are nine balls with numbers on each one, each number is one of a pair with one number that has a set of three, and each person with the same number will fight the other, any questions?" Genma asked after he was finished talking and saw Shikamaru looking at him intently.

"Do you have a question Nara Shikamaru?"

"Hai… Since there are nine of us here, if you count the missing Uchiha, then what about the people that have the ball that's a trio. Does he have to fight one opponent then go on and fight another straight after?"

Smirking Genma answered the boy. "Good question, no you don't have to fight consecutively. The people who draw the ball that's a part of a trio will be fighting in a three way fight."

Nodding his head Shikamaru waited to hear the rest from the proctor with his other fellow Chunnin hopefuls.

"Can you only become a Chunnin by winning your fight?" Temari asked after a few seconds.

"No, each fight will be judged by a few observers and if you show the potential to be a Chunnin you will be promoted. You can win or lose; it doesn't matter for the promotion."

Seeing no more question he moved on. "Now please draw your numbers and show them to me." Genma asked as the other Chunnin went to each person respectfully until they were all holding a number. Seeing this Genma wrote down their names before handing the paper to the guy with the box who then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Seconds later the big screen showed a selection of names, much to the joy of the crowd watching in anticipation.

Sabaku no Temari vs. Inuzuka Kiba vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee

Hyuuga Neji vs. Aburame Shino

Akimichi Choji vs. Nara Shikamaru

Seconds later after everyone saw who was facing who the crowd went wild for many reasons. One was for they now knew who was facing who, the other was to place last minute bets on who was going to win what fight and some even on how fast the fight would be.

Ignoring the crowd Genma turned to the Chunnin hopefuls standing before him stoically. None of them showed much emotion, just the way they should be.

"The first fight will be between Sabaku no Temari, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke. If you're not them go back up to the competitor's box and wait until I call your match." He spoke right to the point knowing they would listen to him.

As everyone was walking to the side only four stayed behind. Sabaku no Temari, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru. The first two because of their impending fight and the last two to say a few last words to their friend.

"Kiba, remember your training and don't get cocky O.K." Shikamaru told his friend.

"I look forward to seeing what you're capable of doing Kiba; don't disappoint the team or sensei." Choji asked with a friendly smile.

Kiba only grunted. "Ya ya, I know. Try not to kill each other in your own match either. You two better not go easy on each other just because you're on the same team."

Both Shikamaru and Choji gave their own smirks in response before heading over to the competitor's box with the rest.

Up in the stands the Jounin of the Konoha team were looking at Naruto in concern. Seeing their looks he answered there silent questions.

"Don't worry about it. Kiba's strong enough and smart enough to handle himself in full battle. There's no reason to worry." He pointed out calmly.

"And your other two students" Asuma asked behind him.

Naruto smirked hearing the question while squeezing Haku's hand and in return had his own squeezed back. "I actually look forward to it. I want to see how far they would go with each other before they cut it off. I doubt they would kill each other, seeing as their best friends but I know for a fact that they won't go easy on each other also. It should be a good fight to watch."

"Do you think any of them will win their fights and get a promotion?" Gai asked quietly for a change.

Naruto glanced at him before looking back to the arena below and regarding each of his students and friends. "To tell the truth I have no idea if any of them will win their fight, but promotion wise, I can almost guarantee Shikamaru will be promoted and the other two have the potential to be also, it just depends on how well they do and if they perform up to standards."

The others around him nodded in return hearing his opinion on his teams fights.

"What about you two Kurenai, Gai?" Naruto asked seeing they weren't going to say anything about their own students.

Gai brightened up considerably and he answered before Kurenai could even process the question fully.

"Yosh! Lee will perform most excellently. His fight will be the most youthful of them all but…" His voice came down from the loud obnoxious it was to a more controlled cool voice in a split second that it had many thinking about his sanity.

"I don't think he will be promoted right now. He has the potential physically but mentally he's not ready yet." He stated seriously.

"Now Neji, him I have no clue on. He's easily Chunnin material when he's not being the stoic Hyuuga, but when he is, he would be a bad choice for promotion."

The others nodded hearing this and turned to Kurenai. "Shino has the strength and the mind to be promoted; the only problem could be he might not show his true skills to get the promotion."

The others looked at the stoic Aburame walking up to the stands and in their minds nodded in understanding. Most ninja would rather keep their skills hidden so they could surprise there enemy.

The only reason Naruto and Kakashi fought in the tower in front of other ninja from around the world was because it was a show of power to them. It showed that Konoha Ninja were still strong even without war and that they've recovered from the nine tails attack years ago. It also helped that both ninja that fought were well known and their skills were already know to be elite Jounin, so it wouldn't be a surprise for the ninja to show that much skill. They also had to approve the fight with the Hokage beforehand.

"Since the rules state that each opponent has two minutes to get ready, we have to wait for Uchiha Sasuke for that amount of time before he's disqualified for not showing up to his match. So please wait patiently until that time." Genma yelled out to the crowd upsetting some for making them wait and others for possibly disqualifying the last Uchiha of Konoha.

Within twenty seconds time the crowd was roaring in disproval of the possible disqualification and Genma looked up to the Kage box for what to say.

Nodding in understanding Sarutobi stood up and walked to the edge of the booth they were in that over looked the entire arena.

"Enough!" His yell got everyone attention as he was the Kage of the village and to show disrespect to one of the strongest people in the world was not a wise thing to do.

"The rules clearly state that a person has two minutes to prepare for their match. That also implies that they should be here in that time limit." Some people started yelling again but a quick burst of killing intent to the entire arena shut them up.

"I will show no special treatment for a ninja that can't show up on time. If this was a life or death situation Uchiha Sasuke would have gotten his team injured or killed. I won't have my ninja or any ninja participating in the tournament given special treatment. The countdown continues and as far as I know Uchiha Sasuke has less then forty seconds left before being disqualified."

With that the oldest Kage Konoha has ever seen walked back to his seat ignoring the crowd's calls and sat next to the Kazekage (Wind Kage).

"Was that wise Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi glanced over to his fellow Kage before turning back to the arena.

"As I said, I won't show special treatment for any of the genin participating in this tournament."

"Even if half the crowd only came to see the Uchiha heir?"

"I stand by what I said Kazekage." Sarutobi said with conviction and a slight edge to his voice.

The other Kage narrowed his eyes but said nothing in return and faced the arena again only to see a swirl of leafs appear in the middle of the field.

Seconds later the crowd went wild seeing it was Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi that had finally appeared.

"Did we make it in time?" Kakashi asked Genma while keeping a firm grip on Sasuke's shoulders.

Glancing down at his pocket watch, he nodded in the affirmative causing Kakashi to sigh in relief.

Grunting Sasuke shrugged his shoulders to get Kakashi's iron grip off his shoulder only for it to tighten and for him to wince in slight pain.

Staring down, Kakashi gave Sasuke a firm glare. "Next time don't start fights right before your match, especially against a foreign ally. Am I understood?"

Glaring back Sasuke nodded that he understood.

Kakashi saw right through the glare and could easily see that his student didn't understand the position he was in. Tightening his grip, he saw Sasuke hiss in pain and finally let him go.

"If I hadn't been out in the forest at that time Sasuke, you could have easily started a war between two villages with your wreck less attitude and action. You don't go starting fights unless they are absolutely necessary." Kakashi spoke down to his student with a cold voice that had the boy give a slight shiver.

Giving his wreck less student one last glance, he disappeared in another swirl of leafs.

Seeing Kakashi gone, Genma startled the Uchiha that was rubbing his shoulder. "Uchiha Sasuke, you just made it with seconds to spare. You're lucky your teacher went and found you, otherwise you would have been disqualified for showing up late."

"What" Sasuke looked up in shock hearing Genma voice clearly.

Narrowing his eyes he started to explain the placement he missed to the arrogant boy. He could see by just his posture that he thought he would win this. Shaking his head at his ignorance, he finished up by explaining the rules.

Up in the stands, Naruto looked over seconds before Kakashi appeared on the steps beside their seats.

"Yo, sorry I'm late, but a black cat passed in front of me and I was forced to go the long way around." Kakashi gave a cheesy smile while slipping into a seat next to Asuma ignoring the glares he got from those around him.

"What really happened Kakashi?" Naruto asked giving his appearance a good stare down and could easily see the slightly ruffled clothes.

Kakashi glanced at his sensei's son and saw the look of knowing something was off and sighed in defeat.

"Well… I kind of ran into some black shadows." He whispered so the others were forced to use chakra to enhance their hearing, but when they did, they each knew what he meant. Black shadow was a code for enemies in the vicinity used when there were potential spies around.

"Explain." The simple word was hard and ruthless, and without even glancing to his side he knew it belonged to Gai when he was serious.

Keeping his voice a whisper he did just that. "I was at the memorial stone saying my respects when I felt a small chakra burst. Knowing what's going to happen today, I didn't think anything of it at first but then it happened again and I recognized this one. It belonged to Sasuke."

Shaking his head in disappointment he continued. "I went to investigate and saw Sasuke dodging a barrage of Kunai from three sand ninja and go into the trees away from them. Needless to say, I killed them in seconds and disposed of the bodies as quickly and quietly as possible, they were no stronger then genin so it was done with ease. Sasuke never saw any of this. I went and found the boy and confronted him, he said he got into an argument with them on the way to the tournament."

The others glared down at the boy that was listening to Genma before turning back to Kakashi when he started to speak again.

"The arrogance of the boy is going to get him or others killed. Luckily the sand genin won't be missed and it shouldn't prove a problem to the plan." Kakashi finished looking at the others.

The Jounin around him nodded in understanding. They couldn't do anything about it at the moment but the Uchiha would have to be punished for putting the village and the plans to defend it in danger. But that would all have to wait until the village was safe from harm, meaning he was free until after the whole invasion and Chunnin exams were over.

"Now that everyone knows the rules and is here." Genma's amplified voice echoed across the stadium to everyone's ears, "I would like to get this match started."

The crowd sent out a wild cheer in approval. Waiting a few seconds Genma spoke again. "Now let the fight between Sabaku no Temari, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke… begin!" He shouted the last word while bringing his hand down in a vertical slice and jumping back out of danger.

Kiba and Temari immediately jumped back while Sasuke unleashed kunai in both there directions while charging at the retreating Inuzuka.

Not standing still, the both of them attacked. Temari with releasing a gust of wind in both Kiba's and Sasuke's direction while Kiba unleashed five shuriken in Sasuke's direction.

Unfortunate the shuriken were pushed off course by the wind and completely missed the Uchiha while at the same time lifting both of them off their feet to be flung in the opposite direction.

Landing on their feet near each other they both engaged in a quick taijutsu spare with Kiba and Sasuke ending up even with each other.

Grunting at getting hit in the chest while dodging Akamaru's claws, he activated his Sharingan to get an advantage only to see a wind current hurling in their direction. Eyes widening, he jumped to the side of it while watching Kiba imbed two kunai into the ground to keep him in place while his dog when flying.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Grand Fire Ball) Temari watched the fire head her way with an air of calm while unleashing another air blast to redirect the fire.

Kiba wasn't standing still though, no in the time it took the others to do that he had already used his clans jutsu's and extended his claws and transformed Akamaru into a duplicate of himself.

"Gatsuga." (Double Piercing Fang) Both Kiba's turning into a rotating tornado of death each heading for one of their opponents.

Temari tried another wind blast only for her eyes to widen in shock as the tornado passed through it like it wasn't there and for her to barely roll out of the way of the deadly attack and have to jump and roll multiple times to get away.

Sasuke was in the same predicament of dodging and trying to get away.

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu." (Phoenix Fire) The multiple basket ball sized fire balls all came in contact with the tornado and where dissipated like they were nothing.

Landing on the ground after dodging the attack, he looked back and saw Kiba land on the ground on all fours, with slight gashes on his arms and legs.

Turning around he snarled as he discovered that each fire ball had kunai hidden in the flames.

"You're not that strong Kiba… come so I can finish you this time." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Narrowing his eyes he same the Sharingan activated and glanced at his partner to see him still going at Temari with the piercing fang.

Turning back to Sasuke he grunted. "Without the Sharingan your nothing but an average genin Sasuke… I'll finish this, not you."

Sasuke glared but didn't have the time to say anything as Kiba came at him in a tornado once again. Jumping to the side he went through the same hand seals he did just a few seconds ago.

Seeing the fire balls coming at him and knowing Sasuke would use the same tactic again if not even worse he twisted out of his tornado and went through some hand seals as fast as he could while keeping his back toward Sasuke so he couldn't copy the seals.

While still in mid flight Kiba twisted back around with two kunai in each hand and spread both hands to his sides and started twisting a fast but much slower speed that his Tsuga would go.

The effect had Sasuke's eyes widening at seeing Kiba push aside each one of his fire balls like they weren't even there along with the kunai inside them.

Getting over his shock in a split second he took advantage of Kiba's still in mid flight form and jumped into the air to kick him hard.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Kiba was expecting this and going with his bodies already twisting form he brought both kunai as close as he could to each other before letting them both go at the same time while noticing the wire that was connected to Sasuke's kunai falling harmlessly to the ground

The effect had the crowd gasp and Naruto to smirk.

The second the two magnetically charged kunai were let go, they rocketed apart at speeds that left them as nothing but a blur to anyone but an elite Jounin.

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror at seeing the attack coming. He knew he couldn't dodge the kunai in time with himself being in mid flight also. He gasped in shock and pain as the kunai embedded itself into his hip all the way up to mid handle leaving seven inches of blade in his hip.

A second later he finished his kick he was aiming at Kiba only for it to be nowhere near as powerful as he intended. But it still hit with a solid crunch on Kiba's jaw. Both boys hit the ground hard.

At the same time the kunai was imbedded into Sasuke, the other sailed half way across the stadium in the other direction.

Temari just managed to hit the rotating tornado with her giant fan and knock it off course when she felt an intense pain in her shoulder that had her screaming in agony and be propelled forward by the sheer force of the attack to land on her face and skid along the ground for three feet before stopping.

The Tsuga attack she intercepted with her fan and knocked off course also crashed into the ground with a lot of force dispelling the Kiba look alike to show Akamaru in the small crater he created.

The audience was completely silent for a few seconds until they roared in approval.

Grunting Kiba stood up and winced when he tried to move his jaw. Wiping the blood from his broken jaw he looked at Sasuke trying and struggling to stand up while blood covered his lower body and a small trickle kept coming down his wound.

Seeing his condition not being an immediate treat, he turned to Temari and Akamaru's previous position seeing Temari glaring at him with her left arm hanging limply at her side. He could just barely see the kunai imbedded in her shoulder blade on her back.

Looking to the side of her he saw Akamaru struggling to stand up and falling back down whimpering.

A brief emotion of worry passed through him before he crushed it and turned back to Temari while keeping Sasuke in the corner of his vision.

"Impressive."

"Indeed, the Inuzuka managed to keep a level head, while making Sasuke underestimate him and eventually outsmart the Uchiha and at the same time he was able to help his companion take down Temari. I think we may have a possible Chunnin candidate if he keeps his head the rest of the match." One of the judges told the others who agreed, if reluctantly.

Standing were he stood, Kiba waited to see if Genma would stop the match, but after a few seconds he could see he wouldn't so he turned to Temari fully putting his back to Sasuke.

Seeing his chance Sasuke grabbed three of his last shuriken and flung them as hard as he could at Kiba's back.

Kiba was expecting something like this and jumped to the side while twisting around to see Sasuke already upon him with a kunai in his grasp.

Narrowly dodging the swipe of the kunai to his head by ducking down and losing a few hairs at the same time, he pushed out his leg to hit Sasuke in the knee.

Said person attempted to jump over it only to hiss in pain and close his eyes when a huge jolt of pain ripped through his spine and only allowed him to jump off the ground a mere six inches.

More than enough for Kiba to still hit shins and make him fall forward right into the ground Kiba once occupied. Rolling out of Sasuke's falling form he saw a huge gust of wind coming his way and pushed off the ground as hard as he could and soared sideways away from the attack Temari unleashed.

Unfortunately for him it wasn't enough and the blades of wind still managed to nick his entire body causing many slashes to appear over him while tossing him into a tree.

Sasuke was even more unlucky as he couldn't dodge in the amount of pain he was in, and even if he could he didn't have the time to do it. So he took the full force of the attack causing his already downed body to tumble across the ground. When he finally stopped he was a mess. Besides the kunai already imbedded into his hip, he now had multiple gashes along his body from the blades of wind and scratches, bruises, and blood from the thirty foot tumble across the ground.

Coughing up blood Sasuke tried to move only to groan in pain and stay on the ground.

Kiba also tried to get up and managed to do so by leaning against the tree for support. Taking in his surroundings and his own injures he knew he couldn't go on for long. Seeing Temari dragging her fan while walking his way and stop thirty feet from him he knew he couldn't do anything. Even if he managed to somehow get close to her, they would still be at a standstill with both of their bodies injured so much.

'And I somehow doubt she'll let me get any closer with the way she's hanging onto her fan threateningly like that.' Kiba thought with a wince.

"…I…gawe tup." He said as well as he could with his broken jaw. Temari seemed to understand and lowered her weapon into a non threatening manner.

At that moment Genma appeared beside them nodding to them both for the good fight. Applying chakra to his throat and doing some hand seals he amplified his voice many times its normal power.

"Do to both Uchiha Sasuke being unable to fight any more and Inuzuka Kiba giving up I declare this match over and the winner to be Sabaku no Temari."

The crowd was speechless for a few seconds before the entire stadium erupted into cheers and applause.

"It seems the Uchiha isn't the strongest genin around anymore." Naruto said off handedly to Kakashi.

Said man just looked at Naruto and shrugged indifferently. "I never really thought he would be the best forever, especially with his arrogance."

"Do you think any of them will become Chunnin?" Kurenai questioned them.

"Well…" Naruto mumbled getting their attention. "I'd say Kiba showed the most foresight of them all, even though he lost he's the most likely one to get promoted."

"Are you just backing your student?" She asked a few seconds later.

"No… I'm just stating fact. Sasuke really didn't think ahead. Temari just went with the flow of the fight, but Kiba had a strategy from the beginning to separate them both and still manage to fend them both off while letting them attack each other still." Naruto stated as fact.

"He's right Kurenai." Asuma poked her in the side making her scowl in his direction.

The others looked at them for a few seconds before nodding and turning back towards the arena to see the medical ninja just finishing taking away each of them.

"Now…" Genma's enhanced voice got every ones attention again. "Let's start the second match. Will Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara please come down to the arena."

"YOSH! IT IS FINALLY MY TIME TO SHOW THE TRUE MEANING OF THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!" A voice screamed out from the competitor's box.

A second later a green blur flew over the railing and started to free fall to the floor. Not even five seconds later the figure landed with a crunch that seemed to crack the ground he was landed on. Standing up like nothing had happened; everyone could see Rock Lee in all his glory of green spandex, bowl cut black hair, and big black fuzzy eye brows.

"YOSH! THAT'S RIGHT LEE, YOU SHOW THEM ALL YOUR GLORIOUS FLAMES OF YOUTH!" An equally loud voice yelled up in the stands.

"WILL YOU NOT SCREAM IN MY EAR GAI?" Another person yelled even louder and a second later a man's groan of pain was heard throughout the stadium.

Naruto looked over at the moaning man and turned to the one who caused all that pain. "Remind me to never piss you off Kurenai. And if I do, please tell me so." He shuddered.

Haku giggled next to him grabbing his attention. "Don't worry Naruto-kun; I won't let her hurt you."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief but the next sentence turned his blood ice cold. "But… I'll hurt you even worse if you deserve it." Her smile was that of the devils and Zabuza that was sitting with them, shuddered none stop for a minute before he could get himself to stop.

'Kami I hate when she smiles like that.' He thought shuddering uncontrollably.

"R-Right, I-I'll keep that in mind Haku-chan." Naruto shuddered out while giving her hand a firm squeeze that she returned with a real smile this time that made Naruto's blood warm up again.

"Right," Genma said bringing the focus back to him. "Would Sabaku no Gaara please come down." He didn't even finish before a swirl of sand appeared on the ground and when it fell away there stood Gaara in all his stoic glory.

"Now, are you both ready?" They both gave sharp nodes as answers. "Good, then let the second match… begin!" He shouted as he somersaulted backwards twenty feet away from the fighting duo.

As soon as the referee said begin Lee slide into the Goken (Iron Fist) Fighting style while Gaara's sand started to pour onto the ground from his gourd.

Both stood there evaluating each other before Lee raced forward at his top speed while throwing two kunai at the other genin across from him.

Gaara made no move to stop them but three feet from hitting him they were stopped by a Gaara made of sand grabbing them from mid air.

Lee not affected by this in the slightest as he's seen him fight in the prelims and outside the hospital before raced forward and was upon him in a second, throwing a back hand to the sand clone dissolved its body. Going with the twist of his body he threw a punch towards the original Gaara only for his arm to be stopped by the sand. Not giving up, Lee let out a barrage of kicks and punches while moving around the motionless Gaara that had his hands around his chest looking like nothing bothered him.

Whipping out a kunai he tried to slash his way through the moving sand defense only for it to get him nowhere and him being forced to jump back and avoid the sand walls coming his way or be crushed by the force or at least get a few broken bones.

"LEE TAKE THEM OFF!"

Said person looked up to where the familiar voice came from and he knew before he saw him that it was his sensei and role model, Gai.

Kakashi looked at Gai startled and asked the question that was on his mind and others around him also. "Gai, you don't have Lee wearing weights… do you?"

Gai turned to his rival and flashed him a sparkling smile that temporarily blinded him. "Of course I do Kakashi; Lee's flames of Youth will burn even brighter now." He said somewhat seriously but still with his weird personality mixed in.

"How much Gai?" Kakashi groaned, he just knew it would be an insane amount.

"You'll see my eternal rival, you'll see." He stated with a big grin which only made Kakashi groan more.

"YOSH! I"LL MAKE YOU PROUD GAI-SENSEI." Lee yelled to the stadium and his role model.

Reaching down he lifted up his green spandex to reveal two leg straps with the kanji 'Iron' on them. Un-strapping them with a simple flick of his wrist they fell down only to be caught by Lee. Lifting them up he held them out to his sides with his arms stretched out fully.

"MY FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY!" Lee yelled just before he dropped them. To all the Jounin and above it looked like slow motion and when they ht they were expecting the load crash. The genin and civilians watching thought it would only be a small thud.

When the weights hit the ground… there was an explosion of debris that flew into the air from the impact.

"That's too much Gai." Kakashi moaned to his friend only for it to disappear into the wind as Gai wasn't listening to them.

Everyone in the stadium had their jaws open with disbelief watching the cloud of dust slowly dissipate until you could see an outline of a person standing in the middle.

Just when the dust was about to settle, a big gust of wind picked it up causing it to cover Lee again. Two seconds later the dust was gone and so was Lee.

Eyes widening in horror Gaara looked around for his opponent. 'He's fast to disappear like that, not as fast as Naruto was though.' He thought looking around frantically only to see his sand jump up in front of him and have Lee materialize in front of his sand wall.

'I can't follow his speed!' Gaara thought frantically as he thrust out his sand to try and catch him but to have no luck as he disappeared in another burst of speed.

The next thing he knew Lee was flashing all around him in a green blur and after six failed attempts to penetrate his sand defense he finally managed to land a direct hit on his face by sweeping under his sand and throwing a high speed punch.

Landing on the ground a few feet away, Gaara slowly got up showing his face crumbling to see Lee standing in the Goken stance waiting for him.

'An armor of sand?!' Lee thought seeing his face crumbling off only for it to reform a few second later with sand that floated up from the ground.

Narrowing his eyes Gaara made the ram seal and all the sand from his gourd exploded outwards onto the field. Thrusting his hand forward he aimed for Lee directly.

"Sabaku Kyu." (Dessert Coffin) Half of his sand shot forward to the prone Lee only for him to disappear from his spot at the last second and the sand to crash into the ground and spread outwards.

Making a sweeping motion with his hand the other half of his sand shut up off the ground and made a moving wall that rotated around him.

A second later Lee appeared above him with his leg raised to attack. Seeing him there Gaara shot his sand out to block him only for the sand to be blasted away by the kick and Lee to keep falling to hit him with his other leg and jump back the second he landed.

Raising his head from its forced downward position he made five seals and slammed his hands on the ground as Lee tried to get through his sand that was working over time to stop Lee from getting in.

"Amazing!" Kurenai gasped in astonishment at the speed Lee had and the defense Gaara had.

"What did you expect Kurenai, he is Gai's student, and he has the same crazy training Gai goes through." Kakashi grumbled out.

"My Lee is doing great; he might even be able to win this. YOSH! GO LEE!" Gai yelled out to his student.

"No... Lee will lose." Naruto said with a neutral expression on his face.

Gai turned his eyes onto him and gave Naruto a questioning look.

Seeing this he explained. "Remember the Sand ninja that told us about today?" The others nodded in confusion as why he'd bring that up right now. They all knew Naruto got information from some sand ninja about the invasion, he told them all that a few days ago at the emergency meeting.

"That ninja was Gaara." The others eyes widened in realization. At the meeting Naruto and the Sandaime wouldn't say who informed them but the source was reliable. They also said that the ninja that gave him the information fought Naruto and managed to make him go all out in the end and even summon Gamabunta to help. Only Kakashi knew the full story because he was one of the ninja with the Sandaime that went to investigate the fight.

"I see…" Gai said solemnly at hearing this news.

"But…" Naruto muttered getting their attention off of Lee trying to get through Gaara's improved defenses. "Gaara won't be using his other power in this fight; he'll never use that power any more unless he wants to. Without that he's only mid to high Chunnin level, Lee still has a chance."

This statement got questioning glances from some of them, except Asuma and Kakashi. They both knew the full story when they visited him in the hospital.

"What do you mean other power?" Gai asked worriedly.

Naruto glanced at them before turning his eyes back to the arena. "Gaara is a Jinchuriki of the Ichibi." (One Tailed Demon Lord)

Everyone's eyes widen in realization and quickly stared down at Gaara with a new look in their eyes. Naruto caught each of their eyes and smiled when all he saw was compassion and slight worry.

"Is… is he stable?" Kurenai asked. They all knew what a Jinchuriki was and how they were treated in other countries like the demons that are sealed inside of them.

"He is now, thanks to Jiraiya and me." Naruto answered easily and saw that they all looked relieved.

"Sabaku Fuyu!"(Dessert Suspension) Gaara yelled forcing a lot of chakra into the ground. The ground under the stadium started to shake slightly until the ground on all sides of the arena exploded shooting out torrents of sand high into the air.

Lee stopped his assault on slowly chipping away the sand covering Gaara the second the ground started to shake and watched in amazement as all around him, on the very walls of the arena sand came flooding out high into the air. That amazement quickly turned to horrible realization when he figured out what he was doing and what he did.

'He fed his sand into the ground to crush the dirt into more sand, and now he's going to use all of that to attack me!' He thought frantically while looking around him for a way out.

It was already too late for that though as the sand came crashing down on him from all angles.

Gaara watched all of this happen with an emotionless face, he saw Lee being consumed by his sand and through his connection with it he could feel Lee doing something but couldn't tell what.

'No matter, I'll just restrain him and end the match.' Gaara thought only for his eyes to widen a second before Lee came shooting out of his sand high up into the air towards one of the walls at least fifty feet away and forty feet high.

"Initial gate Kia!" (First Gate Release) Lee yelled as he exploded out of the sand.

"You didn't teach him those, did you Gai?!" Kakashi asked his friend frantically.

Said man glanced his way before following Lee's form as he pushed off the wall rocketing at Gaara's form even faster than before.

"Hai I did."

"WHAT! He's too young! His body can't handle that much stress yet!" Kakashi yelled as he raised his head band to reveal his Sharingan eye and watched Lee's form intently while he dodged the torrents of sand from all over the arena.

"Lee is different than most ninja Kakashi. Besides he has a desire to prove his way of the ninja will work, and to hopefully be a great ninja some day with only taijutsu." Gai said with a smile on his face and absolute confidence in his voice.

Kakashi and the other Jounin around them looked at Gai for a split second to see his serious and happy face and knew they wouldn't be able to argue with him about this issue so they dropped it in order to watch the match more closely.

"Energy Gate Kai!" (Second Gate Release) Lee yelled as he got even faster.

With his new found speed Lee disappeared completely from Gaara's eyes and the next thing he knew, there was a green blur that flew past him, then another one, and another, before Lee finally got past his frantically made sand defense and appeared right below him.

Eyes widening, Gaara wasn't prepared when the upward kick sent him hurtling into the air straight upwards. He was even less prepared for the seven follow up kicks on his way upward from Lee repeatedly kicking him from bellow.

By the forth kick, Gaara was ready to put up a defensive and was trying to but his sand wasn't getting to him in time to do anything to help.

That is until Lee winced in pain and closed his eyes for a split second, which Gaara took full advantage of. A split second later though Lee snapped his eyes open and twisted his body around while unleashing his bandages from around his arms to wrap around Gaara's prone form.

Once Gaara was completely wrapped up and couldn't move, Lee flipped them over so their heads were facing the ground and started to spin at high speed so it looked like an Inuzuka's Tsuga attacks.

With a resounding crash that made the ground shake slightly with tremors, they crashed into the ground head first with Lee shooting out a split second later with no injures but he did fall onto his knees after landing safely and he was panting heavily.

When the dust finally cleared it showed the crater made from the impact was rather big. Gaara's body was laying there in the middle with a look of pain etched onto his face surrounded by a nine foot crater with it being a foot and a half deep.

Lee smiled seeing his opponent down and out for the count to not wake up for a good long time until Gaara's face started to crack and fall inward.

Startling realization hit him like a full force kick from his sensei. 'He substituted himself with a sand clone! But when?!...No… when I closed my eyes in pain for that split second! Damn it!'

Right as he finished that though he heard a sound from behind him and whipped around still on his knees to see a literal wall of sand coming right towards him.

Struggling to move Lee managed to maneuver to his feet and jump sideways five feet but seeing as the wall of sand was twelve feet wide it did him little good and he was swept away with the sand.

From behind the wall Gaara rose up from a sand patch on the ground with his hand outstretched controlling the sand wall. Waving his hand after seeing Lee get sucked into and buried in his sand, he willed it to move at his command. The sand in the arena around them shook ominously before all moving inwards to the spot Lee had disappeared into.

A couple of seconds later the sand formed a deformed ball just slightly bigger than that of a human adult's size. Extending his arms out Gaara made a downward slash with his forearms that caused the sand ball to crumble from the top downward revealing Lee's head before it stopped.

Gasping for breath, Lee looked around his surroundings as fast as he could before settling on Gaara.

"Give up." Gaara said with his monotone voice with his arm still out stretched and his hand wide open pointed directly towards Lee's prison.

Glaring Lee shook his head no vehemence. "I won't give up! I have to prove my way of the ninja!" He said with conviction.

Staring hard at his opponent he could see he wouldn't give up any time soon, so he glanced over towards the stands where Naruto sat watching intently. He could easily remember the promise he made to the other man. He couldn't seriously injure or kill any Konoha ninja without having Naruto or the Sandaime come after him and that would be guaranteed death on his part.

Narrowing his eyes he turned to the referee who was sticking to the outside wall with chakra. "Rock Lee cannot escape from my Sabaku Ro (Desert Prison) call the match in my favor or I will be forced to injure or possibly kill him."

Genma looked at the emotionless sand genin and could tell that he would go through with his word. Turning his head towards Lee, he could see the boy struggling to get out but have little to no success in doing so.

Making his decision he nodded his head in Gaara's direction before jumping off the wall and walking in between both genin and activating the voice amplifier jutsu. "As Rock Lee is incapable of fighting any more I declare the winner Sab-!"

"NO!" Lee yelled over the referee's voice stopping him from declaring Gaara as the winner. "I'LL PROVE MY WAY OF THE NINJA! LIFE GATE KIA!" (Third Gate Release)

Lee's yell caused Genma to disappear in an instant and reappear on the wall staying there with chakra again.

It appeared like Lee wasn't done after all as his entire body changed in an instant. His muscles rippled under his skin becoming more pronounced and chakra exploded out of him in a small wave but the sand still stayed put with Gaara holding his hand out containing him.

"What is he doing?! His body can't handle that many gates without harming himself!" Kakashi frantically told Gai who was watching with a serious face set only for his student at the moment.

"You have to tell him to stop this Gai, surely you know the consequences if he pushes his body to much?!" Kakashi yelled at his friend seeing he wasn't doing anything to stop his student's actions.

Glancing at Kakashi, he spoke in a cold hard voice that had Kakashi watching him warily. "Lee can handle the strain Kakashi, besides I can't stop him from fighting for what he believes in, this is his choice, and he is well aware of the consequences of what his actions today could do to him."

The others around him nodded in understanding, seeing this was Lee's choice to make.

Grunting, Gaara narrowed his eyes, and slowly started to squeeze his hand shut to constrict the sand even more to hold Lee's form tightly in.

Feeling the sand tightening and still not being able to get out Lee pushed his body even more beyond its limits.

"Pain Gate Kai!" (Forth Gate Release) Even more chakra burst from below his skin and the sand started shaking ominously as if it was having a hard time stopping Lee from escaping but was still holding strong.

"Limit Gate Kai!" (Fifth Gate Release) Lee's yell resounded around the stadium with a boom as he finally managed to force his way out of the sand prison.

Falling down to the ground with sand flying all around him, everyone in the audience was able to get a good look at him. With the fifth gate released, Lee's skin turned red with his pupils turning pure black, his muscles rippling with untold strength and power, and an enormous amount of chakra coming off his body.

Those that were observing only got a glimpse of the powerful body Lee had obtained with releasing the inner gates of the chakra body system, as the split second he touched the ground he disappeared from all view. The only ones that were able to follow his movement at all were those of elite Jounin or higher and even some of them were having a hard time following his blur of a body.

The instant Lee managed to escape Gaara's Sabaku Ro (Desert Prison), Gaara went to full defense. Bringing his hand up to the ram sign, he concentrated all his sand to come to him as quickly as possible and form a circular ball of his hardest sand on all sides of him while keeping his eyes locked onto the falling Lee.

The second Lee touched ground, Gaara lost all sight of him and his sand barrier managed to form an entire ball around his body except for a hole about a foot big.

Lee saw this and with all the speed he could muster he launched forward and the next second was right up in Gaara's face going right up to his sand barrier. Rearing back his fist he let it sail forward to nail a direct hit to Gaara's cheek threw the foot sized hole.

All Gaara knew was one second Lee was just touching ground and his barrier was almost complete, and the next he felt an immense pain in his face and he was flying backwards right through the back of his sand protection ball.

Not letting up for an instant, Lee shot forward and let out a barrage of fists and kicks all aimed at Gaara's body. With each hit his sand armor would crack or completely fall off. With the eighth hit in less than two seconds, the entire sand armor from his waist up crumbled to the ground and left Gaara completely at the mercy of Lee's assault.

Not taking a beating lightly Gaara also willed his sand to shot out in spikes at Lee's back to nail him in both shins causing Lee to buckle under the force.

Feeling the stabbing pain, Lee front flipped breaking the sand spiked from his lower legs and landed on his hands right under Gaara's sailing backwards form. With a hand stand push off Lee hit Gaara in the chest with his injured legs, sending him flying upwards only for Lee to appear above him at forty feet in the air and switch their bodies around so they were facing the ground head first.

Knowing what was to come, Gaara sent out a command for his sand to form layers on the ground below them and in the air as he couldn't escape this time before the bandages wrapped around him in a vice like grip cutting off all of his oxygen instantly.

With a twisting motion of a hurricane, both Lee and Gaara rocketed down head first to the hard ground going right through three sand walls that were floating in the air to land with a resound crash into the hard unmerciful solid ground sending up copious amounts of debris and dust to cloud the spectators view.

Not a second later Lee's battered form came hurtling out of the impact zone to land on the ground legs first, only to fall on his ass and his body to revert to its normal state looking beaten and bloody but still alive and awake.

The audience and Ninja alike could only watch in waiting breaths to see the outcome of such a devastating attack.

After all the dust finally settled it showed a startling sight. Sabaku no Gaara was laying there on the ground beaten and bloody in obvious pain but very much alive and awake.

Turning his head in Lee's direction, Gaara's eyes showed both disbelief and some respect. Shifting his weight around Gaara with some trouble rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself upwards until he was kneeling there in a pit of sand.

Lee could only watch in amazement as Gaara slowly got up from his best attack. After looking at the ground Lee knew how he could still be awake let alone alive after his best move. He somehow managed to change the ground into a sand pit before they hit ground. It didn't stop the full force of the attack but it did cushion the impact enough to not leave him broken or dead.

Standing up Gaara called all the sand in the arena to himself and brought it all back to from a gourd of pure sand on his back and the rest to compact itself into the gourd.

Walking slowly up to Lee's struggling form he stopped ten feet in front of him.

Shaking with effort and pain, Lee managed to struggle to his feet and shakily form the Goken stance.

Keeping his face neutral, Gaara lifted a shaky arm in Lee's direction causing a small amount of sand to trickle out of his gourd and hit Lee in the chest who didn't even try to dodge and causing him to fall to the ground and not get back up.

Both were panting, bloody, and worn out. Everyone in the stadium could see that and knew that they couldn't go on, well Lee couldn't, and they weren't so sure about Gaara.

Seeing the match truly done this time, Genma hopped off the wall and walked in between the two genin and raised his hand in Gaara's direction.

"Seeing as Rock Lee is incapable of continuing, I declare Sabaku no Gaara the winner of this match!"

The declaration was met with instant cheers from the crowd that broke up into loud yelling and screaming.

"Damn…" Kakashi sighed after seeing them finally stop and also drawing the others attention to him at the same time. "Gai… Lee's torn his muscles pretty badly by using that many gates at such a young age. At the very least he'll be in the hospital for three weeks, but it could be worse, I'm not a medical specialist but that's what I saw with my Sharingan." He explained sadly to his friends around him and his rival.

Said man just smiled grimly knowing the same thing from experience. He just hoped it wasn't anything more serious as he watched the medical ninja put Lee's body on a stretcher and take him out of the arena. He also saw Gaara look up at them and nod his head before using sand shunshin out of there and back to the competitor's box.

Said nod was caught by Naruto and returned in fold. He understood that he had to take the match to more serious levels to get out alive and well. He didn't blame Gaara for injuring Lee the way he did. He still remembered what Gaara said to placate him and the Hokage into trusting him. He gave his word that he wouldn't harm any Konoha ninja unless it was in self defense and even in that case he wouldn't permanently harm them.

"The next match is about to begin, can I ask Hyuuga Neji, and Aburame Shino to please come down to the arena." Genma asked to the waiting crowd. The arena looked different after Lee's and Gaara's fight. Before it was just a flat area with a couple of tree's in it, but now it was littered with holes from impacts, broken trees, uprooted earth, and sand laying around in random areas.

Within moments the two of them were in the arena waiting for the go ahead from the referee. After nodding their heads that they were Ready Genma announced it to the crowd.

"Who do you think will win this one Gai?" Zabuza asked gruffly.

Glancing his way, Gai gave Neji an appraising eye before answering. "To tell you the truth I have no idea. Both of them rely on chakra attacks and taking out an opponent's chakra from use, but lately Neji has been acting differently. Ever since Naruto told him what he did during the semi finals, he's been thinking about his life. He's slowly been changing his view of his life to not revolve around fate, but he still has that stoic Hyuuga attitude that I'm sure will never go away completely. But at least now he doesn't think he'll win everything just because he's a Hyuuga like he thought before."

Grunting in amusement Zabuza had to comment. "Figures the punk would think he's all that just cause he came from some old clan."

"Hey I came from an old clan Zabuza-sama!" Haku grumbled under her breath not so quietly.

"Ya, but you've never been arrogant or a know it all brat." He returned with a grin.

Said girl just huffed in annoyance while leaning her head against Naruto's shoulder and watching the arena as the match was about to start.

"Hyuuga Neji vs. Aburame Shino…let the third match of the Chunnin exam finals BEGIN!" With a swift vertical chop of his arm Genma started the match and quickly disappeared up to the wall to watch in safety.

Shino instantly raised his arms up to unleash a horde of kiekie bugs from under his sleeves to swarm around his body and spread out into the arena.

Neji saw all of this with his Byakugan activated. He also saw that the bugs didn't come from under his long trench coat but from under his skin on his body.

Sliding into his family's taijutsu stance, the famous Juken of the Hyuuga clan, he sprinted forward. Seconds later he was upon Shino's still form and thrust an open palm into the boy's chest only to watch his chakra attack get absorbed into the bugs that made up the body he just hit. Jumping away he knew it was a bug clone before he was even ten feet from him. Turning to the direction he knew Shino to be by using his three hundred and sixty degree vision he sprinted towards him with another attack ready.

Sadly he was forced to abandon that attack, to avoid the swarm of chakra sucking bugs about to hit him.

What branched from there was a vicious cat and mouse game of who could hit the other one first. Shino would send his bugs to attack Neji and eat his chakra while Neji would and try to seal up Shino's chakra up close and personal on his body.

After five minutes of chasing each other around, with Neji forced to use an attack that had the main branch of the Hyuuga clan gawking in awe, the famous heavenly spin, which rotates chakra around the body by spinning like a top to deflect all attacks from every angle, the two were starting to show signs of struggle.

Shino also had to do some quick maneuvering to get away from Neji's deadly palm trusts and was forced to use substitutions, and bug clones on multiple occasions.

With another direct hit on Shino's shoulders, Neji jumped back while emitting chakra from his pores to get the chakra eating bugs off his body. He was startled to see at least twenty fall to the ground before he landed a good twenty feet away from the kneeling Shino only to crumple to the ground and land on one knee also.

Seeing both boys struggling to get up and only succeeding in stumbling a few steps before falling to their knees again Genma jumped off the wall to land in between the two boys.

Raising his voice he spoke to the entire stadium. "Seeing as both parties are unable to continue due to chakra exhaustion, I declare this match a tie."

It took a few seconds but the crowd finally understood what he said to let out a deafening roar of approval. The match was slightly boring in comparison to the others, but they knew a good match when they saw it.

The judges of the match were another thing though. "I don't think either of them will be likely for the Chunnin promotion, do you?" One of them asked.

Giving the two boys a once over he shook his head in the negative. "They both have the potential to be Chunnin in strength but I'd still say no."

"What about their strategies?" One commented. "They both showed they could look ahead and see the enemy's moves beforehand."

"No… they only looked ahead by one move, no more. It is true, they have the strength, but the strategy is a no. Then they only have the respective clan's attacks. In the real world they'll need more than that or they will be utterly predictable to enemy ninja that know of their clans even basic styles."

The others could only nod in agreement after thinking for a few seconds about the whole thing. By the time they were done talking about the match and possible promotions Genma had the two boys escorted of the arena by the medical ninja he raised his enhanced voice again.

"Will Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru please come down to the arena for the fourth match up?" Said duo looked at each other before nodding to the other and heading to the steps to take the slow way down.

"Who do you think will win this one Naruto?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Naruto only shook his head mumbling under his breath causing Kakashi to give him a questioning look.

"If you would have been on time you would already know Kakashi." Naruto sighed dejectedly. "But I understand why you were late. As I told the others earlier, I don't really know who will win the fight, but they'll both go all out and try there absolute hardest to beat the snot out of the other to win. They both have something to prove to themselves and the ninja populous."

"Not to mention you Naruto?" Kakashi chuckled to himself while staring Naruto strait in the eye.

Smirking in return, he grunted in agreement. "Ya, they definitely want to prove themselves capable in my eyes. Don't really know why though, seeing as they already know I think highly of them." He mumbled out the last part so only Haku could hear him because of her close proximity.

"They look up to you Naruto." Kakashi said in a serious voice catching his and the others around him attention. "Your there sensei and the fact that you're so strong and only two year older than them makes them look up to you."

Naruto stared at the man who he considered an older brother with a thoughtful look before shrugging and watching his two students stop in the middle of the ring waiting for Genma to start the match.

Seeing as they weren't going to get a response from him they too brought their attention back to the arena to watch the upcoming fight.

"Are you both ready? Genma asked seriously eyeing the two of them up. He could tell that they were more than ready and once he started the match he just knew they were going to go all out on the other. Glancing off to the side where he knew the Jounin sensei's sat, he eyes Naruto and then his two students. He knew this was going to be an interesting fight just because they were his students. Let alone the fact that there fathers were famous for working together and this would put their sons against each other.

Getting a nod from each he addressed the whole arena. "As both parties are ready to begin, let the forth match between Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru begin!"

The second the two of them heard Genma's announcement the both shot forward at their full speed barely noticing Genma disappear up to the stands.

In less than a second the two were at each other's throats in an intense but short taijutsu match. It only lasted seconds but it showed everyone that was watching that they were truly trying to harm and win against the other.

Jumping back, both boys drew some shuriken and threw them at the other before landing and sprinting to the side. Both shuriken barrages weren't even close to the hitting there moving target but the only reason they threw them in the first place to get the other to move in a different position.

Running to the side Shikamaru went through some hand seals while keeping his eyes on his opponent the entire time. Best friend or not, they both agreed to try their best. Stopping with a skid on the ground, he brought his hands up to chest.

With a grunt Shikamaru slammed his fist against his chest letting a compressed ball of air speed toward Choji.

Said boy didn't let it faze him in the slightest as he simply skidding on the ground to stop and pushed backwards and upwards to get out of the way. Sadly he wasn't expecting for Shikamaru to let out another Futon: Renkudan (Drilling Air Bullet) right after the first without having to do the seals again.

'I didn't know he could do that! He must have been training really hard these past two months!' He thought with a grin. 'Well he's not the only one who trained hard!'

Still in the air from his jump backwards, he knew the compressed air was heading right to where he would land. Quickly tucking his body into itself, he curled into a human ball to flip himself upside down. Now facing the ground he made some quick hand seals and thrust his hand onto the ground, landing in a hand stand position.

"Doton: Doryuheki." (Earth Wall)

The second he did a slab of earth shot out of the ground just in time to block the incoming attack. But the attack was still powerful and managed to destroy a chunk of the wall but still managed to hold against the brute of the attack.

Quickly flipping upright he went through a few more hand seals withdrawing his concentration from the earth wall while simultaneously weakening it to fall apart with a mild hit.

"Baika." (Multi-Size)

"Nikudan Sensha." (Human Bullet Tank) With his body in a tight hard giant ball, he spun on the spot and shot forward right threw his own earth defense sending rock hurtling at the surprised Shikamaru.

Jumping out of the way of the incoming rocks he didn't have time to get out of the incoming human tank and was run over much to the surprise of Choji who didn't think it would be that easy. But the second he hit Shikamaru he knew it wasn't the real him but a mere bunshin. (Illusion Clone)

Keeping his momentum he shot across the arena bouncing off the wall like it wasn't even there and back to the center only for an explosion to happen right in front of him launching him back at the wall.

"Futon: Renkudan." (Drilling Air Bullet) Choji heard just before hitting the wall and bouncing back off only to be hit with a ball of compressed air that slammed him even harder into the wall than before causing dust to pick up around his form.

Shikamaru panted from where he was standing near the middle of the arena. He knew Choji could survive that attack, though he was pretty sure it would take out his human tank jutsu for a few seconds.

Not risking the chance of waiting for the dust to clear he made a few hand seals, resulting in his shadow to shoot out towards where he knew Choji to be.

"Kagemane no jutsu." (Shadow Imitation)

Grunting in slight pain Choji stood up from his slight crouch position whipping a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. Being repeatedly slammed into the wall with only a split second before the other like that had hurt enough to force him out of his human tank jutsu.

Expecting no less from his best friend he grinned at the challenge. Seeing a slight outline of his friend and opponent he knew he couldn't sit still and wait for the dust to clear. Going through some hand seals he brought his training up to the front of his mind. Slamming his fist into the ground he was pleased to see it sink in like it was being absorbed before releasing his chakra causing a rock the size of his chest to pop out of the ground in front of him. Swiftly bringing his hand back out, he slammed it into the rock before it even fully rose off the ground sending it rocketing out of the smoke.

"Doton: Dorama." (Earth Shot)

Eyes widening in alarm, Shikamaru just managed to cancel his jutsu and roll to the side avoiding the rock that had to be a foot and a half wide. Looking up from his role he saw the smoke clear just enough to see Choji send his first into the ground again bringing up another rock of the same size and guessing the same density. And seeing the hole in the arena it caused, it was pretty damn dense.

Quickly jumping to his feet he just managed to twist around the second incoming deadly bolder and was helpless but to watch as Choji sent another his way. But this time when he hit the rock it wasn't one giant rock that came at him but multiple smaller but just as deadly rocks hurtling his way.

The only thing that saved him was a quick Kawamari with one of the rocks Choji had sent his way earlier.

Landing Shikamaru watched as both rocks were turned to dust and had just enough time to see another rock already heading his way.

Knowing he couldn't dodge the thing fully he made five of the quickest seals in his life and trust his hands outwards with his hands in a cup like shape. Twisting his body he did one complete spin landing in the exact same position as he started out in and just in time to see the rock collide head on to an invisible force before shooting off to the side not even a split second later showing Shikamaru standing perfectly still with a shimmering barrier of wind.

Panting after seeing Shikamaru stop his attack he ended the jutsu to see Shikamaru pull out a few kunai and launch them his way.

Still panting from the exertion it took to use the Doton: Dorama (Earth Shot) he jumped to the side and then forward to avoid the explosion that the two kunai had caused from the exploding notes on them.

Ignoring the explosion, he watched as Shikamaru quickly and effectively sent some shuriken his way that he easily dodged only to watch Shikamaru go through some seals he knew very well and form his Kagemane no jutsu (Shadow Imitation). Stopping he glanced at the ground to see the shadows weren't that far from the side of the arena leaving Shikamaru limited to his own shadow length.

Sprinting to the side he dodged the shadow left and right as quickly as he could while going in a circle around Shikamaru and slowly getting closer and closer to him with each capture attempt of his shadow. At the same time as he was dodging he was sending out kunai and shuriken to distract his friend and force him to dodge and then try again with his shadow.

This continued until Choji was ten feet away and made some seals.

"Budun Baika no jutsu." (Partial Multi-Size)

With his new attack ready Choji threw his right arm to the side and jumped forward while enlarging his entire hand to the size of Shikamaru's body.

Just as he was about to connect he felt Shikamaru's shadow finally catch him and see the shadow slither its way up his body lightning fast before a hand popped out and wrapped around his neck.

This had all happened in a mere few seconds.

Seeing the position the two boys were in, Genma jumped down into the arena to land lightly a few yards away from them both. Seeing neither of them move, he shook his head in amazement at their display of techniques and strategies for such young ninja.

"That's enough!" His voice was soft but commanding at the same time and both boys nodded to the other before releasing their respective jutsu's and freeing the other from the killing blow they were about to land on each other. Shikamaru could have snapped Choji's neck with his shadow while he could have crushed Shikamaru with his enlarged hand.

"Seeing as both boys were about to finish the other, I deem this fight over and a draw!" His voice echoed out across the stadium to the silent crowd. That silence only lasted a few seconds before the entire crowd erupted into cheers for the two boy's excellent match.

"Wow, they did even better than I thought they would." Naruto's offhand comment got the others to smile in his direction.

"Choji even managed to surpass me on the Doton: Dorama (Earth Shot), I knew he could do it with time, but damn was that fast. I was expecting around a half year or more, but he masters it to that point in only two months, just amazing." Naruto said with a small smile.

The other Jounin around him who knew about the jutsu and its possibilities gasped in shock. "T-two months!?" Kakashi asked startled along with Zabuza, Haku, Asuma, and Gai.

Kurenai was the only one who didn't know why it was such a big deal and asked just that. Kakashi took it upon himself to explain to her the origins of the jutsu being from Iwa, and it being one of their most famous jutsu because of the possible potential it could have. He went further to explain that it could be learned at genin and is a C-rank jutsu and if skilled enough could turn into a high A-class jutsu of devastating proportions.

After the explanation she too was shocked to learn that to get where Choji was at it normally took around five to eight months. Naruto had every right to be proud of his students and their accomplishments.

By the time Kakashi was finished with explaining everything both Choji and Shikamaru had helped each other up to the stands to watch the final and last match of the Chunnin exams.

"Now I would like to get onto the final match of the Chunnin exams." Genma's voice sounded through the stadium. "Would Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Gaara please come down to the arena."

Just as he finished speaking Gaara shunshined down ten feet beside him with his sand shunshin. He was impassive as ever with his arms crossed over his chest and staring straight ahead as if looking at some one.

A few seconds later Temari came gliding down on her fan to land opposite of him. Gaara gave no acknowledgement that he even knew she was there though; he just kept staring straight up into the stands.

Seeing both of them down in the arena, Naruto narrowed his eyes knowing what this meant as did many other ninja in the stadium and village.

"Seeing as your both ready, let the final match between Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Gaara… begin!" With his last word he shunshined out of the arena up to the stands with the classic puff of smoke.

With only a single insignificant nod, Gaara brought his hand out from there crossed position and made a sweeping gesture with his arm causing all the sand in his guard to fly out into the air only for a second later for it to come crashing down onto himself and covering himself in a sphere of sand.

Nodding in return, Naruto watched as Gaara encased himself in his sand sphere and not a second later did he notice feathers starting to fall over the entire stadium.

Glancing at the others and releasing Haku's hand, Naruto stood up and canceled the sleeping Genjutsu with ease noticing the others around him do the same. Off in the distance he heard a mighty explosion before he nodded to the others as foreign sand and sound ninja started to swarm the place.

They all knew… they were all ready… the war had started!

Author Notes:

Well there you go folks, a new chapter of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I hope you enjoyed it. A new record of thirteen thousand words, my longest chapter yet… and don't expect them to stay that long either.

People are still confused on Naruto's age. I was wrong last chapter by the way, thanks for pointing that out. Naruto is currently fifteen years old (Just turned that age). That makes Neji's age group just turning fourteen and the rookie nine just turning thirteen. It also appears that I gave bad information some point in my story; sadly I'm too lazy to go looking for it and change it to make it right. Naruto joined the academy a year earlier than his age group. That is true. That would also make it so that he joined the academy two years earlier than Neji did. This should also bring up the conclusion that the rookie nine was born two years after Naruto. The rest of the events in canon are true, just Naruto is two years older. I hope this clears up the confusion. Haku is two months younger than Naruto if you're curious.

Now onto why I didn't update in forever. I could easily lie to you and say some crap, but why bother. I'll tell the plain hard truth, I was with my girl friend, friends, school, work, and million other things. This aside I could have easily updated in about a month like normal. But, I was very lazy and wanted a break, so I took one. I wasn't expecting it to last more than three months, but hey, what do you know, it did. Also a big factor was me reading about one-hundred new Naruto stories out there, and around two-hundred new Harry Potter stories. That's right, I now read them to. Still no excuse to not update, but… ya well… what can I say… my bad.

As for my next update, again I have no idea when it will be, but hopefully not too long. I won't even guess as I have no clue myself.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or PM me at any time. With that I say farewell my fellow reader and writers, until next time.

Battousai222


	17. Obliterate Thy Enemy

Well here's another chapter…

Hope you enjoy it; it's just over 11K long. First I want to say sorry for the delay. It partly my fault for just not wanting to write, another is for when I did finally want to write, life interfered and it took literally a week and a half before I had even close to the time to try and write.

Third, people are asking if I have abandoned this story, I have to say this to them… "I WILL NEVER abandon this story, it just might take awhile for me to update is all, my bad."

Fourth, and last I want you all to know I have a new story posted in my profile. If you're interested go look at it, if not well enjoy this story and the new chapter.

That's about all I want to say, so go on and read the chapter and hopefully enjoy the thing.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Obliterate Thy Enemy

"Scatter!"

That was the only thing needed to have every ninja in the area sweep out to start their own fights and defend their village. The shout came from none other than the former demon of the mist, Momochi Zabuza.

The only indication any of them even heard him speak was that each of the Jounin in there group seemed to disappear to another part of the stadium and start to attack the enemy ninja.

In the split second it took to bring down the sleeping Genjutsu, every ninja in the area flew into action. The sand and sound invading army thought they would catch the hidden leaf village by surprise with their sneak attack. Sadly for them though, the ninja of Konoha knew they were coming and had prepared for the coming conflict.

Every where they attacked they were met with resistance, and instead of having the luxury of surprise and easy kills, they were put on the defensive just as much as the offensive.

The walls of the village were torn down by giant snakes in seconds of the invasion starting, and seconds later they were assaulted by groups of ninja breathing fire down there throats.

In the Chunnin exams stadium, the second Naruto heard Zabuza speak, he used Shunpo to appear thirty feet away with three quick steps.

Appearing in front of a startled sand ninja, he drew a kunai at blurring speed and drove it into the said ninja neck before viciously twisting his body around with the now bloody kunai still in his hand. Ignoring the thump of the dead body behind him he surveyed the battle field.

Every where he looked he could see ninja fighting each other in a deadly battle of skills and death. He saw Kakashi and Gai in one stand fighting back to back and killing any enemy that came to close to them.

In another part of the stadium he saw Asuma-sensei cutting down enemy ninja left and right with his knuckle blades and slowly making his way to the fire daiyamo that was surrounded on all sides by Anbu guards.

Not too far off from Asuma he saw Kurenai cast a Genjutsu over some unsuspecting ninja, and seconds later have them clutch their heads and fall over before she launched some kunai at them, causing immediate death.

Directly across from him on the other side of the stadium he could see Haku throw needle after needle into enemy ninja, with such deadly accuracy that they hit their mark every time and each throw was meant to kill.

Looking up he could see the Hokage and the formally disguised Orochimaru fighting each other in a battle easily at Kage level. Knowing Sarutobi could handle himself just fine, he tore his eyes off him and back to the stadium below.

Seeing all the Jounin doing fine he looked for his and the other sensei's genin teams. After only a second of looking and being distracted by dodging an incoming ninja and twisting around him while slicing the back of his neck wide open effectively cutting his spine in twine and killing him, he spotted them all in the same area, some moving, some not.

Narrowing his eyes he made his way over to them. He was stopped only when an enemy ninja was foolish enough to get in his way. They were disposed of efficiently and quickly. Arriving at his destination he surveyed them with a critical eye.

All the genin were alive it seemed, but some of them weren't able to dispel the Genjutsu quick enough to stop it from taking effect. He noted with some pride that each of his genin still here was standing wide awake trying to protect their fellow genin. He noticed that both Shikamaru and Choji were panting heavily as they should be after their own fight, they were having a hard time intercepting the few kunai coming their way either from stray fights or enemy ninja aiming at them. Choji was on his knees panting heavily and Shikamaru was trying his hardest to deflect the sand ninja's assault that was standing in front of him.

Just as Shikamaru deflected another shuriken coming at him he noticed a whole barrage of kunai coming right up from behind it. Eyes widening in fear, he raised his kunai to try to deflect them as best as he could.

When they were only four feet from hitting him he suddenly saw a blur of movement and the next thing he knew the kunai were redirected into the wall ten feet away with a huge gust of wind. Both he and the sand Jounin he was fighting looked over to the source of where it came from only to find no one there.

Hearing a thump of a body hitting the ground, Shikamaru and Choji wiped there heads around to the source to see their sensei standing over the ninja they were trying to keep away.

Sighing in relief he stared at his sensei with a look of utter thanks.

Seeing the look Naruto nodded his head before appearing beside them with a burst of speed that had his genin looking at him with amazement and wonder.

"You two have done well, but this isn't the place for you to be right now. You're not ready for this kind of situation yet." Naruto spoke to them while going through some seals and throwing a kunai at a group of sound ninja only for the one kunai to multiply into dozens of them.

"We know sensei, what should be do?" Choji asked watching the enemy ninja scatter from the incoming kunai and start to charge at them.

Frowning he glanced at their exhausted forms and then at the other genin on the ground. "Wake the others up." He said while moving forward to intercept the sound ninja before they could get to close.

Nodding in acknowledgement, even though there sensei didn't see it, they did as he ordered, as they knew it wasn't a request but an order with no questions to be asked.

Dodging another swipe of a kunai, Naruto brought his fist back and let it sail at the enemy chest, connecting with a satisfying snapping of bones, and leaving him clutching his sides in agony on the ground. Seeing the area was clear for the moment he turned his attention back to the genin while keeping his guard up.

Seeing them all looking at him or the fights around him with slight fear and apprehension, he knew they weren't ready for this. To fight enemy ninja and kill them without thought was a hard thing to do. Especially since they haven't built their way up to doing this yet. They usually took missions to kill other human beings very slowly, that way they didn't scar the mind of the people that weren't ready.

"Genin!" He growled at them to get their attention, making some of them snap their heads in his direction in alarm. "I want all of you to stick together and head to the Hokage monument. There should be allied ninja all along the way to help you get there. Don't get into a fight if you can avoid it, I don't want you to die. Move as quickly and as silently as you can, move!"

His voice was harsh but it couldn't be helped, there was no time for arguing with them in a situation like this. Some of them were about to argue but a quick shake of the head from one of the other genin told them not to and to follow the orders.

They were just turning around when some of their eyes widened in alarm. Going on nothing but instinct, Naruto dropped to the ground, avoiding the sand Jounin that managed to sneak up on him while watching over the genin and making sure they got out of here alive.

Rolling once he hit the floor, he avoided a follow up slice of a sword and pushed off the ground with enough force to send him several feet to the side and back to his feet. Landing on the ground, he saw the Jounin already only feet away from him. Twisting in and out of the sword swipes he finally had an opening and took it to send a vicious left hook into his gut, hitting his spleen at the same time. Seeing him stumble from the blow he took his chance and drove a kunai into his forehead and kicked his falling body into a group of other ninja making them fall to the ground.

Hearing movement behind him, he twisted around to see two Chunnin sound ninja fall to the ground with needles in their necks and eyes. Turning his head slightly he saw Haku nod in his direction before resuming the slaughter of enemies.

Nodding in thanks, he turned back around to see the genin still staring at him with wide eyes. Whether those eyes were from fear of seeing him dispose of another human life so easily or the actual death around them, he didn't really care at the moment.

Glaring at them, he practically growled at them. "I thought I told you to go to the Hokage monument. Move it already!"

Eyes widening in alarm they each scrambled to a hole in the wall, and proceeded to jump out into the trees around the stadium.

Shaking his head he turned to the entire arena and same that the enemy was falling left and right rather fast. Seeing a dozen or more enemy ninja in the middle of the arena down bellow, he sprinted to the railing to see them launching kunai and different jutsu into the stands trying to hit other ninja.

Crouching on the railing, Naruto pushed off with enough force to launch himself high into the air directly above the middle of the arena. He absently noticed that quite a few ninja were watching him as he flew through the air. He also noticed that a hail of kunai was heading in his direction from the left.

Going through a few seals he twisted in the air.

"Futon: Sepuutate." (Whirlwind Shield) The kunai and shuriken barrage were met with a wall of air that stopped them dead and allowed them to be deflected around him.

Stopping his rotation he went through another series of seals before positioning his body so it was facing the ground.

"Futon: Daitoppa." (Great Breakthrough) A huge gust of wind seemed to come from the wave of both of his arms to the stadium floor.

Not stopping to see the effects the wind attack had on the enemy below he went through some more seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu." (Grand Fire Ball)

Breathing in, he sucked in as much breath as he could, before releasing it in the biggest fire ball he has ever made in his life.

The on lookers could only watch in amazement as the ball of fire was easily thirteen feet wide and if the color of it was any indication, it being light red, almost white in color, it had to be hot. Half way down to the stadium the fire ball wavered, before suddenly exploding it a sheet of fire that covered the entire stadium floor, and changed from light red to pure white.

The only ones that understood what happened were rather impressed. Naruto had managed to combine the first wind jutsu with his fire jutsu. He did this by releasing a fire at the rising dissipated air from his earlier wind jutsu, effectively combining the attacks. And because the fire reacted well to the wind, it only made the fire even stronger and caused it to increase in power and size.

The effect was instantaneous and alarmingly effective. The entire stadium floor was bathed in fire for a few seconds consuming all within in an inferno of deadly heat. The ground was scorched raw but all enemy ninja were fried beyond reorganization. If any of them managed to survive the attack, they would most likely be begging for death from the immense pain of being burned alive.

Panting to regain his breath, Naruto floated down to the infernal of fire as it slowly dissipated into nothingness. As he made his way to the ground the fire still licking the entire arena surface he realized that he would be burned if he landed in it at that moment. Frowning he went through some more seals ending at horse.

"Suiton: Teppodama." (Gunshot) Breathing in again he releases a small ball of water where he would land extinguishing the flames instantly. Landing he wasted no time in shooting off to the side away from another kunai aimed at him and landed on the arena walls. Turning he ran up it as fast as he could emerge on the top right in front Kakashi and Gai.

"That would be thirty two kills for me my eternal rival, how about you!" Gai yelled out as he back handed another enemy.

Kakashi glanced in his direction and gave him a begging look which Naruto ignored completely wanting to hear the answer himself.

Sighing in dejection, he answered. "I only have thirty Gai, what about you Naruto?" He asked ignoring Gai's rant of eternal youth winning in the end.

Shrugging he glanced around while answering. "I have forty six, but twelve of those were from just now."

Gai instantly appeared in front of him knocking a sand ninja out of the way in his process to stand right in front of him. Putting his hands on Naruto's shoulders, he spoke in a calm cool voice. "Naruto… your FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN AMAZINGLY BRIGHT!" Ok so he started out calm and cool, and turned into screaming at the end.

Ears slightly bussing from the loud voice not even two feet away from him he nodded his head while shrugging his hands off him. He turned back to Kakashi only to stare into an empty space. Eye twitching as he just figured out Kakashi tricked him into giving him a chance to escape from Gai; he turned back to Gai with a gleam in his eyes.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Gai took a step back, as he knew that look well, it was a look of when somebody was going to get hurt later on.

"Gai…" Naruto asked in a sweat voice sending shivers up said mans spine. "Could you do me a favor?"

"H-Hai."

"Thank you Gai, could you go find Kakashi for me and tell him to watch his precious better from now on."

Gai heard the tone in Naruto's voice and knew he wouldn't argue. It was common knowledge that he and Kakashi would get on each other's nerves and do things to each other often. It just happened to be whenever Naruto was looking for Kakashi for his revenge he always had this gleam in his eyes. No one knew how he got it, but every one that had seen it knew not to get in his way when he did.

Nodding he turned and went to fight with his eternal rival side by side once again leaving Naruto to his own devises.

Turning, Naruto saw Gai was gone and saw out of the corner of his eye Haku being pushed back by four Jounin by the looks of it. Tensing, he sprinted in her direction taking down only one person that got in his way.

Landing in a crouch after jumping from a seat, Naruto's gaze snapped to the people fighting in front of him and taking in every detail of them he could in a split second.

The first one he noticed and cared about the most was Haku. From the way her chest was rising and falling rapidly, he could tell she was being pushed hard as her breathing was coming and going rather fast. He could see multiple slices in her clothes, only one of them stained with blood thankfully. He himself had his clothes torn in a few places from close calls.

Tearing his eyes off his girlfriend and her heaving chest he took in the appearance of the other four. Three of them were male and the other was female. There appearance was covered up masterfully by a piece of cloth over each of their faces so he couldn't tell if any of them were rather famous or not in the bingo book and thusly more dangerous. He did notice that two of the men had multiple senbon needles in their bodies from fighting Haku though.

With a knowing frown he watched Haku duck another swipe of a blade before she spotted him and jumped backwards away from her opponents.

Taking that as his cue knowing that if he interfered while she was defending herself in the heat of battle she could accidently try to take him out at the same time not knowing it was him right away, he pushed off from the ground with all his might launching himself at the group of four.

Appearing in a burst of speed between the four, Naruto immediately thrust out with two kunai, one in each hand, aiming for the men's vital spots.

With the sound of tearing clothes, Naruto watched as both of them shot to the side with nothing but torn shirts. Adjusting his crouched position, he slid into his dragon stance and waited for the enemy to make the first move.

He didn't have to wait long as the one to his left came forward with a kunai drawn.

Easily sliding along the swipe of the kunai, Naruto thrust his left arm forward while ducking another swipe and successfully landing a blow directly to his shoulder and hearing a satisfying crunch of breaking bones.

Not stopping for even a second Naruto twisted his body around his surprised opponent, while snaking an arm around his neck. Tightening his hold while spinning, he watched dispassionately as the man's body tried to follow the movement only to be too slow and hear more snapping of bones while his body did three complete turns before landing back on the ground motionless.

Not even sparing the man a second glance, Naruto sprinted to the closest man before he could recover from seeing his comrade die so quickly.

Dodging the sloppy kick, Naruto grabbed the leg while jumping in the air bringing the man with him. Using a good amount of his strength he yanked the ninja over his shoulder and flung him back at the ground.

The man landed in a heap and turned over as fast as he could to see his opponent only for his eyes to widen in fear when he saw Naruto two feet above him with a kunai drawn. He could only watch him drop on top of him with fear as the kunai imbedded itself inside his heart killing him instantly.

Rolling off the dead body to his feet, Naruto looked to his left when he heard the tell tale sound of a lifeless body hit the ground. Staring directly at him with a small smile was Haku. At her feet was one of the four that had her on the edge of defeat before he arrived. A couple feet away was the other body with his throat slit.

"I thought you could use some help." Naruto grinned knowingly.

Tisking thoughtfully Haku shrugged her shoulders. "I would have had them eventually, but thanks for the help anyways."

"I'm sure you would have." Naruto replied back calmly while looking behind her.

Seeing him looking past her, she too looked in that direction only to see a ninja falling toward her, already part way through some hand seals. She was just about to draw some weapons when she felt a single kunai sail past her cheek and imbed itself into the poor fool's skull.

Stepping to the side, she watched the body topple past her until it stopped a few feet away. Raising her gaze away from the dead man she brought it back to Naruto's.

"Is it just me, or are these ninja rather poorly skilled?" She asked while jumping to his side.

Shrugging his shoulders he answered while looking around them. "Nope, most of them seem to be only genin level with a few Chunnin and even fewer Jounin skilled ninja."

Nodding her head even though he couldn't see it as they were now back to back fighting off any ninja that got too close to them.

"I guess we should feel luck then?"

"Ya I guess, but what was Orochimaru thinking, that he could win with so little skilled ninja?"

"No I think he was going for numbers over skill, obviously its not working like he wanted." She answered quickly while throwing another senbon needle into a person's forehead.

"Obviously." He drawled back.

"Hey, don't you be sarcastic at a time like this, we have to be serious, we're in a middle of a war!" She replied hotly.

Smirking Naruto twisted around and grabbed Haku's shoulder, forcing her to spin around so she was facing him. She had a confused look on her face until her eyes widened feeling him kiss her right then and there.

Moaning into the kiss she was disappointed when he pushed off after only a second. Staring at his smirking face, she flushed prettily.

"What are you talking about Haku-chan; I'm always serious in these situations."

Haku just glared at him in response.

Pouting childishly he stared back at her glaring face. "You know… whether you're glaring at me or not, that red flush on your cheeks is still cute as hell."

That only got her to blush more and for the glare to intensify. Grinning in victory he squeaked seconds later when he saw some needles coming directly at him.

Ducking under them he spun around when he hear a groan of pain and spotted a sound ninja shedding tears of utter pain while tenderly touching his groin where two needles were protruding.

Eyes wide, Naruto turned around to see his girlfriend with a vicious grin on her face. Taking a step back he glanced around to see the other ninja in the area giving Haku a wide berth of space while watching her warily, both ally and enemy ninja alike to be exact.

Chuckling weakly he said a quick farewell to his girlfriend. "I-I'll be over there fighting some other people Haku-chan…stay safe!" He said quickly while disappearing in multiple Shunpo's until he was what he deemed far enough away. Which oddly enough was around two hundred feet, the others around really couldn't blame him.

Not five minutes later, Naruto was once again standing side by side with Haku but this time he was accompanied by both Kakashi and Gai.

Letting the last of the enemy in the stadium drop to the ground dead they surveyed the damage. From what they could see they barely lost any of their ninja if any at all. The enemy forces though… they didn't fare so well. They were lying on the ground either dead or wishing they were for soon they would be from their injuries or they would be taken as war prisoners.

Finishing their survey they let their guard drop slightly while the other Konoha Ninja dropped in around them.

"Report!" Both Kakashi and Naruto barked the instant they knew they were all around them.

The others stiffened before an Anbu in a black cloak stepped forward and nodded to them both. "Namikaze-taichou (Captain), Hatake-taichou."

"A Black ops, good, code six report!" Kakashi stated aggressively as they were short on time. Any one that was in the Anbu knew the code book inside and out, this saved time from asking the entire question.

The Black ops stiffened up to a board when he remembered the code, it was a short term for 'what's the situation with our forces and where's most of the enemies located?' question.

"Sir, the stadium is fully secured and there were zero civilian casualties, ninja are unknown. The west, east and north gates have all been breached with the use of summoned snakes. It appears that Jiraiya-sama has taken care of them. The main force seems to be at the east gate while we are having trouble securing the north gate sir!" The Cloaked Anbu said as fast and clear as he could.

Both Kakashi and Naruto assessed the situation in their heads as quickly as possible, but Naruto left Kakashi to deal with the orders. In situations like this he still had more tactical sense then he did, let alone experience.

Kakashi knew this to, so after scanning the ninja around him to get a rough number and inspecting the injures at a glance he spoke to the group as a large. "Right, twenty of you go to the north gate and help push back the invasion." As soon as he said this said number shot out of the stadium in a flourish of blurs.

Not even glancing at them or stopping in his orders he continued on. "Who's ever left, split in two groups and head to the other gates, ten of you stay behind and make sure the citizens still asleep in the stands are not harmed. The rest head to the gates and once our forces can handle themselves there move to the next gate and eliminate any stragglers on the way."

"Wait!" Naruto interrupted before they could depart a split second later. Seeing he had their attention he spoke quickly. "I need five Anbu black ops to stay behind with Kakashi and Haku, the rest of you are to follow Kakashi's orders, move!" Naruto spoke while looking to the building were the Hokage was fighting at with narrowed eyes.

"Hai!" The group chorused before breaking off to help defend the village on a whole leaving only the ninja Naruto asked for standing around with the ten left to guard the stadium spread out.

"What are you thinking Naruto?" Kakashi asked seeing the hard look in his eyes.

"We're going to help the Hokage." Was his simple reply while he ran full speed up the wall with the others hot on his heels and onto the roof where the purple barrier was encasing a Kage level battle.

Landing he instantly spotted the two Anbu Captains watching the fight with several dead bodies surrounding them. Sprinted over to them he stepped beside them while watching the battle within continues on.

"What's the situation?" Naruto asked while the others in his group listened in.

Not even glancing at him to know it was Naruto he answered back. "Sarutobi-sama has been backed into a corner. If it was only Orochimaru he was fighting it would be a fairly straight fight, but the rogue Sannin developed a jutsu to bring back the dead and managed to bring forth both the first and second Hokage's, luckily Sarutobi-sama was able to stop the third coffin which contained the fourth Hokage's body otherwise this fight would have been over long ago. So far Hokage-sama has been able to hold his own but it seems the two resurrected Kage's can heal any wound there given in a matter of seconds, even severed limbs. He's being pushed back with fewer and fewer option left to him."

"Right, how's Orochimaru controlling the two?" Naruto asked after a few seconds of thinking while watching the third bring out Enma the monkey king summon and have him turn into his diamond staff form.

"After bringing them back from the dead he inserted a kunai with multiply kanji's on it, into there heads, I assume that's the controlling factor." The unknown Anbu Captain answered back.

"I see…SARUTOBI, YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE KUNAI TO KILL THEM!" Naruto yelled out so the Hokage could hear him.

Sarutobi didn't even glance at them before answering back with a grunt. "I know that Naruto, but the kunai seems to move inside their body, I'm going to have to destroy the entire body to severe the connection with the kunai!" His voice travelled back even though he spoke normally.

Narrowing his eyes he turned to the barrier between them and the Hokage and let a single kunai fly at it. He watched in fascination as the kunai melted on contact with the barrier.

"It seems to be some kind of fire related barrier, Naruto. We've tried multiple jutsu's to get past it, but they all seem to be ineffective, though water worked the best, but even an A-rank jutsu did little to nothing to it. It's being powered and supported in the four corners by the four sound ninja." The Captain told him seeing he was testing the barrier.

"I see, any ideas to get past it Kakashi, anyone?" Naruto asked the others around him.

Most of them just shook their heads in the negative or replied in a quick 'no'. Kakashi spoke up though. "No, if an A-rank water jutsu didn't penetrate it then nothing in my arsenal will, either of you?" He asked looking at Naruto and Haku.

"I'm afraid not." Haku stated sadly. "My most powerful jutsu wouldn't work well in this situation."

They both turned to Naruto when they saw he was silent with a thoughtful look on his face. "I might have something that can get through."

"Oh and what's that Naruto-kun?" A voice purred from inside the barrier. Looking at the source of the voice they discovered none other than Orochimaru standing there listening in to their conversation while the two resurrected Kage's fought off the Sandaime.

Glaring at the man, he glanced at Kakashi with a small grin. "Why the jutsu my dad never finished of course."

"You really completed the Rasengan!" Kakashi asked astonished with wide eyes.

"I thought the Rasengan was completed?" Haku asked questionably.

"No the Rasengan is only half completed, but we don't have time to discuss this, the jutsu's still not perfect and it takes me quite a bit of time to still complete. There's a very good chance this jutsu will work but I'll need you guys to protect me while I power it up. I can't be disturbed at all, understood?" Naruto asked the others.

"Hai, spread out and protect Naruto, let nothing interrupt him. When the barrier falls help the Sandaime destroy the two resurrected bodies and kill Orochimaru." Kakashi ordered.

A split second later the fourteen ninja moved around Naruto leaving a fifteen foot gap between them just in case.

"Oh you think you can destroy this barrier with an improved Rasengan do you? Let me see you try!" Orochimaru growled out while jumping back from the third Hokages attack.

"Naruto!"

Said persons head snapped over to Sarutobi who just called his name.

"Leave this fight to me, you and the others are to help defend the village." He said while sending the first Hokage tumbling back with a strike of his staff.

"I'm sorry, but we can't lose you Hokage-sama, without you the village will be prone to attack when this invasion is over, we need a strong leader to keep the other villages from attacking." Naruto replied seriously.

"Fucker! I said stay down!" Sarutobi yelled striking yet again at the first Hokage that kept getting back up from blows that should have easily killed someone else.

"Fine, but make sure none of you die!" He yelled before sprinting away from the barrier and towards Orochimaru.

"Roger Hokage-sama!" Naruto replied instantly out of habit.

Giving a subtle nod to the others around him he put his hands in the ram seal and gathered his chakra. Slowly it started to rise until it was at its peak and he released the seal. Exhaling he spread his legs apart and crouch slightly while grabbing his right arm at the elbow for support. Anyone who's seen him use the Kaizuki (Fire Blade) before would recognize the stance as being the exact same except he's grabbing his elbow instead of his wrist.

With a burst of chakra a solid Rasengan appeared in his hand in one second with little to no effort on Naruto. Letting his eyes close he worked on the hard part.

The others around him were keeping an eye on what he was doing and how the Hokage was doing at the same time. They watched Naruto close his eyes and a few seconds later they started to see something blue forming inside the sphere of pure chakra.

Those with good enough eyes watching, which was everyone on the roof, watched as small particles of water started to form inside the chakra until it was a glob of uncontrolled substance by the way the blob of water was moving spasmodically.

Feeling it where it should be, Naruto clenched his eyes tighter and then a second later snapped them open.

The ninja around him watched the blob of water seemingly blow up inside the Rasengan and then two seconds later they could see small particles of water rotating with the Rasengan chakra, moving in sync with each other. It was as if the chakra of the Rasengan and the elemental water was one. The water particles were only the size of a pin but with the amount that was in it, it almost looked like a tsunami of water and chakra moving in a chaotic but still controlled environment.

Nodding at the state of the Rasengan he concentrated some more and slowly water formed on his hand. With a small push of his chakra Naruto moved it to the Rasengan.

The others around them were already astonished that Naruto had actually managed to improve the Fourths jutsu, and it was even more astonishing that he added pure chakra manipulation with Nature manipulation, something that until this day was unheard of, but they were even more astonished to see small streams of water slide down Naruto's hand and onto the Rasengan and float around it. The water formed three rings around the Rasengan that rotated around the first ever seen elemental Rasengan at amazing speeds. Each ring rotated in different direction and not once were the rings ever lined up together. The whole process took a total of two minutes.

What surprised the others even more was the sheer power they could feel emitting off the Elemental Rasengan. It was easily S-rank by the feel of it.

With a small exhale of breath Naruto looked up to see the astonished looks of everyone there, including the Sandaime and Orochimaru. It seemed that Orochimaru ordered the two resurrected Kage's to stop fighting so they could all watch this, that or Orochimaru unconsciously ordered them to.

Smirking at his look of astonishment, Naruto nodded his head with a grunt to snap the others out of there shock. It did the job as they each tensed up ready for Naruto to break through the barrier.

"Let's see how your barrier holds up against my most powerful jutsu yet?!" Naruto stated looking right into the eyes of Orochimaru.

Tearing his eyes away from the criminal he briefly locked eyes with the third Hokage and had a silent conversation with him in that split second.

The said man knew exactly what Naruto wanted him to do to. He wanted him to stay as far away from the jutsu as possible, easier said than done when you're trapped inside a force field of sorts.

Seeing the third understood Naruto looked back at Orochimaru to see he called the other two Kage's to his side. It seems he wasn't that confident in his barrier holding and wanted the extra protection just in case.

'Smart.' Was all Naruto thought before he pushed off the ground and sprinted to the barrier. In but one second, Naruto was right on it, with his right arm holding the improved Rasengan behind him. Leaping up into the air about twenty five feet away and high, Naruto fell towards the barrier and connected with a grunt at fifteen feet high off the ground.

"Kachuu Rasengan!" (Maelstrom Spiraling Sphere)

The effect was immediate. The nanosecond the Elemental Rasengan impacted the barrier; the entire barrier wavered with a ripple effect centered on Naruto's attack and moving outwards. Another nanosecond later the water rotating around the sphere exploded outwards going to the sides and forward. The water that was once rotating around the sphere was now a several feet wide pressure canon of hundreds of gallons of water that obliterated the barrier it was pushing against.

With a sound of an implosion, the barrier simply ceased to exist, and in its place was a man pushing forth a force of nature. With no were to go, the water that was pushing against the barrier not even a second ago, rocketed forward at the next available target in front of it.

Because of the way Naruto positioned himself there was none other than Orochimaru and the two resurrected Kage's in front of him left.

Eyes widening in fear, Orochimaru knew he couldn't dodge in time, hell he couldn't even pull off a Kawamari in time as the water barred down on them before he could even think about it.

Not stopping his attack after seeing all three of them being swallowed up by the water, Naruto landed on the ground with the Rasengan still in his hand. It looked exactly like it did before except now the other rotating water was gone, but the water on the inside was still there and fine.

As he landed he could hear the sounds of the water breaking through wood and colliding with other water. As he was watching his water slowly dissipate he saw a blur move off to the side. Glancing that way he saw it was the third Hokage moving to stand beside him.

Giving a slight shake of his head in Sarutobi's direction he stopped dead in his tracks and watched as Naruto turned around. The first thing Naruto saw was scattered water everywhere and then the wood. There were large and small pieces here and there but the biggest one was just barely protecting the three occupants inside. Then he noticed the area around them. The roof seemed to be caved in slightly and had dents in it ever so often from the force of the water that barred down on it.

'It seems the outer shell lost almost all its power going through the barrier, it should have easily torn through some chakra enforced trees and a water wall, let alone the roof.' Naruto thought.

Narrowing his eyes he shot off at his fastest speed and appeared in front the barrier of wood and slowly rotating water of there once defense. Bringing his right arm forward he connected with the wooden barrier.

Once again, the onlookers were shocked to see such power come from a single jutsu. They already saw it tear through the barrier like it was nothing, and it appeared like it still had some power left. They weren't expecting it to have _this_ much power left though. If they thought the first part was strong then the second was absolutely devastating.

The second it connected with the wood, it seemed to shred into the wood about half way in like a normal Rasengan would do, but when it got past that half way point in seemed to shrink a couple of inches before it simply exploded outwards. The water and chakra inside the sphere widened instantaneously destroying the barrier before they could even see it with their eyes leaving nothing but the three occupants to defend themselves.

With nothing else holding it back, the remains of the Suika Rasengan (Maelstrom Spiraling Sphere) crashed against the bodies of the two resurrected Hokages and Orochimaru effectively covering them from view.

The others could only watch on in amazement as the water and chakra combo covered the enemy until they couldn't be seen and forced them down on the roof. The already strained roof couldn't contain the force of the attack and gave way. With the force of a boss summon behind the attack, the water rocketed through the roof and came out the side of the building with the combined chakra and water making a cutting and drilling force to be feared.

Without stopping, the thirty foot wide attack continued to the ground were the three impacted with the earth hard enough to cause a small quake in the ground for a mile where it continued to drill away until it finally lost its momentum and died down.

Up on the roof Naruto watched all this with a small grin while breathing heavily on his hands and knees. He had a clear view of the damage his attack had caused and was watching as the smoke slowly dissipated. He barely even felt the others land around him as he continued to watch to see if he finished the job the Sandaime started.

The others were watching on silently also. There were no words to be said at this time, the threat wasn't guaranteed to be dead yet.

Finally the smoke cleared and what they saw surprised them. Both of the resurrected Hokages seemed to be still moving even though by all forces of nature they shouldn't be. Their bodies were broken, bleeding, and missing vital parts. Each was missing either a leg or an arm and both had their entire rib cage caved in. Both had multiple scratches from the water and going though the building and finally the impact on the ground.

Underneath both of the resurrected Hokages, was none other than Orochimaru. He looked no better than either of the former Kage's looked. His left arm was simply not there, his right arm seemed to be broken in three to four places by the way it bent in too many places, and his legs were both broken. His upper body seemed to be alright for the most part, as the two Kage's were in front of him when the jutsu struck. The only easily seen wound on him was a two by four piece of wood sticking through his chest.

Surprisingly he was still awake despite the injuries he received and was glaring up directly at Naruto with so much hatred that you could feel it in the air.

Sarutobi took this moment to step forward. "Let's finish this." He stated before jumping through the new hole in the roof to the ground.

The others followed him through with Haku and Kakashi helping Naruto up. When he tried to move though, he only stumbled and fell. The two caught him before he could even fall a foot forward.

"Maybe we should help you down there Naruto?" Kakashi asked with his famous eye smile.

"I don't want to see you walking on your own Naruto-kun, that's an order!" Haku commanded sternly showing her medic Nin training to the fullest, but both Kakashi and Naruto could easily see the worry in her voice and face.

"Hai, I'll gladly take the help." Naruto consented willingly.

Both Haku and Kakashi nodded before looping an arm around there shoulders each and following the others to the ground below with Naruto between them.

Landing softly on the ground, they watched as Sarutobi advanced on the struggling Orochimaru.

"It finished Orochimaru, you've been defeated."

He got a glare in response. "I won't be defeated here old man, I can't! I'm immortal now, no one can kill me!" Orochimaru yelled while glaring at Naruto continuously while looking for a way to move his broken body and get away.

"No, you're not immortal. We know all about how you've been switching bodies." Sarutobi replied.

Eyes widening in fear he struggled even more to move but could only grunt in pain each time.

"NO! I won't die, not like this! I won't let you!" Orochimaru yelled while opening his mouth wide only for the Kusanagi (Grass Cutter) sword to come flying out of his mouth at Naruto.

Moving faster than any present, Sarutobi appeared in front of Naruto deflecting the sword away before it could do any damage with the monkey staff.

Glaring at his former student Sarutobi advanced on him. "I won't let you hurt anyone else Orochimaru, you've ruined too many already. It's time I finish what I should have all those years ago." The third said as he let his staff drop from his hands. In a puff of smoke the staff returned to his monkey form and stood behind and watched as Sarutobi drew a kunai.

"Kukuku, I may die you old fool, but Konoha will still burn to the ground. The two Hokages I resurrected can't die, they are true immortals! Kukukukukuku!" Orochimaru chuckled his demented chuckle with an insane gleam in his eyes.

Narrowing his eyes Sarutobi gave a small nod of understanding before lowering the kunai in one swift movement towards his chuckling ex-student. Just as he did that he noticed a hail of kunai coming from his side but he did nothing to stop them as the two Anbu captains appeared beside him and knocked them off course.

With a sound of metal piercing flesh the kunai imbedded itself into the missing Nins forehead, thus killing Orochimaru of the Sannin, S-class missing Nin, and former student of the third Hokage.

With bloodied hands Sarutobi stood up and looked in the direction the Kunai came from to see Kabuto in his Anbu disguise without his mask disappear into the ground.

Sighing he turned to the two bodies that were almost completely healed on the ground beside Orochimaru corps just in time to jump over a leg sweep from the Nidaime.

Jumping back he watched him form some seals he recognized easily. "Move back!" He yelled.

The others took his advice to heart and watched as the two brother Hokages were surrounded by a vortex of water at least fifteen feet wide.

Landing on the ground Sarutobi took in there surrounding. They were right beside the stadium, in the middle of a small civilian area. Looking around he saw absolutely zero civilians so that means the evacuation was done properly it seemed. Taking a quick look at the others he noticed they were all ready to fight except one.

"Take Naruto out of here, he's in no condition to fight!" He ordered only to frown when a jet of water seemed to head directly for Naruto, and in effect Kakashi and Haku as they were still holding him up.

Jumping to a nearby roof top to avoid the water attack, they were just about to do as the Sandaime suggested when the Shodaime (First) appeared beside them aiming a fist directly at Naruto.

Luckily for them one of the Anbu appeared in front of them and grabbed the offending arm and flipped the man over them all.

"Move!" He said hurriedly as he watched the Shodaime land softly on the ground and lunge back at them.

Not having to be told more than once they tried again to leave, only for the Nidaime to come from the other direction. Before he could even get close though, five Anbu intercepted him and started a battle, but it seemed the two Hokages weren't interested and using water and tree jutsu moved them out of the way in a hurry only for them to turn back to Naruto.

Just as they were both about to charge at them they were blindsided by a stream of fire so hot that it was white in color. Looking to the left of them they saw Sarutobi still breathing the fire out at them. A few seconds later he ended it and jumped over to Naruto's group.

As he landed he watched the burned bodies of the two Hokages slowly reform. "It seems there new target is you Naruto." He stated easily without looking at him.

"Why me though?" Naruto asked while looking at the bodies that were almost completely healed now.

Frowning Kakashi answered quicker than Sarutobi could. "It seems that there objective was to kill Sarutobi at first, but when you interfered, either Orochimaru ordered them to attack you or they saw you as the greater threat to their summoner and thus now see you as their target." He explained quickly.

By this time the other ninja in there group had landed around them waiting for orders on how to defeat the seeming less immortal beings in front of them.

"Well that's great, I'm in no condition to even defend myself right now, let along fight off two immortal Kage's. Any ideas on how to kill them?" Naruto asked mournfully.

"I have a plan." Sarutobi started and once he knew he had all the ninja attention he continued. "First things first, Naruto I'm afraid you're going to have to stay here, they'll only cause more damage searching for you if you leave. Saying that I want everyone here to protect him with your life let nothing get through. Secondly we have to either remove the Kunai in their bodies, which is harder than I thought it would be, so we're going to do the next best thing. Burn their bodies to ash. I want their hands removed first, so they can't do any defensive jutsu, and then as quickly as possible I want as many of us to use the strongest Katon jutsu you have on them, hopefully killing them once and for all."

The others nodded in understanding at the orders and prepared themselves as the two Kage's were just getting up. With a nod, they each shot forward to continue the fight.

Naruto watched them all as they moved forward with a frown. He glanced at his two companions still holding him up and back at the battle in front of him.

"Guys, I want one of you to help out." Naruto stated.

The two addressed people looked at him and then each other and knew what he was thinking and nodded to each other. A silent statement went through the two of them, before Kakashi let Naruto's arm fall from his shoulder.

"Keep him safe Haku." Kakashi stated as he opened up his left eye bringing forth the Sharingan once again.

"Was that wise Naruto-kun?" Haku asked as she watched Kakashi slash at the Nidaime's head only for him to be kicked in the stomach and sent tumbling away.

"The more people fighting them the better Haku-chan, they are fighting two undead Kage's after all. Besides your more than good enough to keep me safe." He grinned at her while kissing her cheek.

Blushing slightly at his praise she watched as Sarutobi unleashed a deadly taijutsu combo that left the Shodaime on the ground.

Rolling away from another slash from the Nidaime's sword, the Anbu captain jumped back while doing hand seals. While still in mid flight he unleashed a compressed air blast sending the former Kage skidding backwards only for him to be impaled by two swords from an Anbu black ops.

"Raikiri!" (Lightning Blade) Came Kakashi's calm voice as he stood beside the now one armed man.

Taking their chance the Anbu black ops moved in around the one armed dead Hokage while extending chains to tie the man down. Four revolutions later the man was face down in the ground wrapped in chains, with those chains secured to the ground and anything else available.

Glancing to the side they could see Sarutobi and two Anbu Black ops holding the Shodaime off while they took care of the Nidaime.

Nodding to the others around them, Kakashi and seven other ninja jumped into the air while going through some hand seals.

"Katon: Karyudan!" (Fire Dragon Missile)

"Katon: Karyu Endan!" (Fire Dragon Flame Missile)

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Great Fireball Technique)

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" (Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique)

"Katon: Hiendan!" (Soaring Flame Bullet)

"Katon: Karyudan!" (Fire Dragon Missile)

"Katon: Karyu Endan!" (Fire Dragon Flame Missile)

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Great Fireball Technique)

With the onslaught of eight powerful fire jutsu, the Nidaime was struck true and incased in flames of such intensity, that a person could feel the heat coming from them a good fifty feet away.

Landing on the ground it seemed everyone including the other resurrected Kage watched on to see what the fate of the Nidaime was. A few seconds later the flames cleared with nothing else available to burn showing the charred remains of the once great Hokage. All that was left was a lone kunai that was mangled beyond recognition, if the group there didn't know it was once a kunai, they would have no idea the small liquid metal was once so.

Sighing in relief the ninja turned their attention back to the other former Hokage to see him going through some seals at an alarming speed.

Recognizing the unique seals for what they were, the current Hokage of the leaf village yelled to his companions to get back.

It wasn't a second to soon either, as the ground shook ominously before a tree branch the size of an adult human being erupted from the ground they were once standing on.

With speed and reflexes honed through countless missions and training, all of the ninja present were able to jump from branch to branch avoiding being captured by the ever growing trees.

Naruto and Haku watched all this with calculating eyes. They knew the Shodaime was bringing out all the stops now. When the trees started moving their way though, that's when they realized what the Shodaime's plan was. It wasn't to capture and kill the other ninja that he was fighting; no it was to keep them occupied and hopefully block them from getting to Haku and Naruto.

With dawning realization they watched the trees headed towards them and the Shodaime riding on one of the growing branches. The sight was not one to be taken lightly and they reacted instantly.

Haku instantly let go of Naruto's arm and grabbed a hand full of senbon needles and let them loose at the incoming man. Sadly the first Hokage didn't even move from his branch, he simply commanded more to grow in the path of the incoming senbon needles.

By the time Haku realized her attack was useless she had already grabbed Naruto by the arm and jumped onto another building.

They were pursued easily and after watching three building crumple to the ground under the massive trees growing in the ground they were forced to jump onto one of the trees to get away. Unfortunately the first Hokage controlled all of these and the instant they touched the tree, branches attempted to ensnarl them to their deaths.

Haku was having a hard time dodging all of the incoming branches as she was supporting most of Naruto's weight on her shoulders at the same time. She could have dodged them a lot easier without him there but she would never abandon Naruto like that.

Dodging the first seven branches they were just spinning around another incoming branch when the Shodaime appeared in front of them. Eyes widening in alarm, seeing him with a kunai in each hand and knowing Haku couldn't get them out of the speedy Hokage's way in time, Naruto did the only thing he could think of in that microsecond.

With a push, Naruto jumped away from Haku's helping arms to see her horrified look at his action. Not wanting to see that look on her face, he turned his eyes to the former Hokage to see he simply landed beside Haku and jumped away from her in pursuit of himself. He barely even noticed that behind the Shodaime more branches grew to block off Haku from attempting to help him out.

Sighing in relief at her not being injured by his hasty plan, Naruto landed in a tumble on another branch, and had to avoid some that tried to ensnare him again.

Unfortunately he was already dangerously close to chakra exhaustion and his muscles weren't working as they should have been because of that. Do to his worn out body his reaction time and reflexes weren't even close to being above a high Chunnin's level.

With all that in mind Naruto rolled away from the branches, and with a hand stand flip was back on his feet in time to see the Shodaime a few feet away.

Ducking under the swipe of the kunai, Naruto thrust out his arm to land a fist in the Hokage's ribs, only for the Hokage to brush off the blow like it was nothing. And it wasn't really, seeing as his strength was completely gone. Just barely avoiding being stabbed in the neck, Naruto instead took the kunai into the shoulder were in was mercilessly ripped out leaving a gaping slash wound in its place.

Ignoring the incredible pain coming from the new wound, Naruto landed on his back and pushed with everything he had into a two legged kick into the Shodaime's gut. It seemed to be enough as the man was pushed back four feet, allowing Naruto the time to get to his feet and attempt to escape.

He had no delusions that he had a chance against the former Kage in frontal combat. Even when he was at perfect health he doubted that he could do much damage to the man without at least four Anbu class ninja as back up. In his current state he knew that all he could do was run, dodge and hope someone would eventually help him out.

And that's exactly what he did. Once on his feet he put his full power into his legs and turned tail and ran as fast as his body could go. He didn't get more than twenty feet before he saw out of the corner of his eye the First Hokage once again in hot pursuit.

In less than two seconds the dead Hokage was on him again as Naruto had lost all of his speed in his injured state. With only his senses telling him to move, Naruto kicked off to the side to see the Shodaime had used a piece of wood as a kunai and tried to take off his head.

Not stopping at all, the Shodaime let loose a barrage of wood weapons that Naruto could do nothing but attempt to avoid. Even with all of his training and skills Naruto was struck in his already wounded shoulder, his right leg, and his lower right arm by various sharp pieces of wood. With these injures he fell to the ground and hissed in agony at the pain he was feeling and it didn't help landing roughly on the ground.

Taking his chance the Shodaime landed right over Naruto's bloodied form with his right arm pulled back surrounded by what looked like a wood spear ready to impale Naruto and end his life.

Naruto watched in horror as the spear descended on him. They say a man's life flashed before their eyes when there about to die. Naruto would say differently as at that moment a wall of blue seemed to strike the first Hokage's entire body and send him off to the side.

Looking to the side he saw Haku crouched on a branch give a sigh of relief. It seemed she was the one that saved him just in time.

Looking over to where the Hokage was sent, he saw him getting up soaking wet. At that moment Naruto knew Haku had sent a quick Suiton jutsu at the Shodaime to stop him.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Haku land in front of him in a defensive stance.

Eyes widening in comprehension and then horror Naruto spoke quickly. "Haku you have to get out of here! Leave me, you can't take him on, you'll die to!"

Glancing at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye she looked directly at him. "I won't leave you here Naruto, if I die, I die protecting you." She said with such emotion in her voice that it left Naruto utterly speechless. It could have been that and the look in her eyes, it was the look he'd only seen once before in his life and hoped he would never have to see again.

It was the same look he got from Kaito his best friend before he was killed in front of his eyes. That look had haunted his dreams for months on end. It was a look of resignation that you knew you were going to die, but you were going to die protecting your friends and loved ones.

"_No…" _Naruto whispered desperately as he watched the Shodaime move quickly towards their position. Just as he was a few feet away the unexpected happened though.

Out of nowhere the Shodaime was once again blindsided by none other than Sarutobi and sent tumbling off into the trees by the force of the staff in Sarutobi hands.

Blinking slowly Naruto watched as ten other ninja landed around them, each wearing a black Anbu cloak, or white captain one, and Kakashi to land the closest to them.

"Sorry we're late, but we got held up by some rather evil trees." Kakashi eye smiled at the two relieved couple.

"Are the two of you all right?" The Sandaime asked in concern causing Kakashi to inspect them like a scientist would a lab rat.

"I… I'm in pretty bad shape but nothing life threatening." Naruto answered after a few seconds.

"I'm fine Hokage-sama." Haku answered while crouching down and starting to go through a few hand seals until her hands were glowing with green healing chakra.

"Good, Haku continue to Heal Naruto, the rest of us are going to finish this fight. Kakashi, stay with them, let nothing get within ten feet." Sarutobi order.

"Hai." Kakashi acknowledged while keeping an eye on Naruto's injures and watching the others jump in the fight once again.

Keeping a critical eye on the battle, Kakashi watched as the Sandaime literally tore through the Shodaime's defenses until he had the man on nothing but the defensive. This was the opportune moment for the others to strike. With the swiftness of trained killers, they each moved forward before drawing their own weapons.

With each ninja that passed by the Shodaime, they cut into him and took a part of his body with them. First were some fingers, then some gashes on his torso, then a slit throat, one stab wound in the joint of his leg that forces him to his knees. After that came a sword swing that managed to take off his arm. With each ninja that passed by him the Shodaime Hokage was slowly being taken apart.

By the time the nine ninja finished passing him he was in literal pieces; and Sarutobi was done with his hand seals. Breathing in deeply until his chest was swelled up; he exhaled and with it came a flame thrower of death heading to the immortal Hokage.

The flames consumed the dead man entirely but the Sandaime wasn't done yet and increased the power even more until the flames were pure white creating a super heated fire to destroy the body.

Not taking any chances the other Anbu around him did some of their own seals and each one of them exhaled a stream of fire. None of them were as powerful as the Hokage's one, but combined they were sure the former Shodaime would be burned to nothing but ash.

Cutting of the jutsu's, the Anbu and single Kage left standing watched as the flames slowly dissipated and spread to the surrounding wood. After a few seconds, they saw much to their satisfaction, that the once mighty dead Hokage was turned into nothing but ashes and a pool of molten metal.

Satisfied that there work was finally done, they each turned to the downed man. With a short sprint they arrived at Naruto's side.

"Can he be moved Haku?" Sarutobi asked right away.

The said women looked up at him briefly before continuing to heal her boyfriend. "Hai, but he can't be jostled too much or the wounds that I've sealed will reopen."

"Good, two of you carry him, we have to get out of these trees and back to the main battle." He spoke to them all before turning to three of the Anbu black ops.

"I want you three to put out this fire; we can't have these flames spreading to the rest of the village." He ordered.

"Hai" They nodded to their leader before moving to do as asked.

Turning to the others he addresses them. "If you're still capable of fighting, move out and protect the village. By now we should have driven the forces out, but any help is good help. If you see any commanders tell them I'm at the hospital, move!"

They each gave a confirmation before scattering. Turning back to Naruto, Haku, and Kakashi he addressed them last. "Let go, the sooner we can get you to the hospital the better Naruto."

Nodding, Haku and Kakashi helped Naruto up and then onto Kakashi's back. Once he was sure they were each ready, Sarutobi jumped into the trees heading in the direction of the hospital.

On the way they ran into three commanders of the Konoha forces that stopped to give a report to the third Hokage. "Sir, we've managed to force the enemy out completely in ever gate except the north. We've slowly start to diverge our left over forces there."

"And the civilians?" Sarutobi asked right after.

"Almost zero casualties' sir. The ones that were injured or killed were struck early in the invasion." The Anbu captain answered quickly.

"Good, continue with the plan, the reserve forces are out by now right?"

"Hai Hokage-sama."

"Then have the village scouted out for any stragglers, leave no place unchecked. After the village is safe, secure the boundaries and report back to the Hospital." Sarutobi voice commanded.

"As you say Hokage-sama." With that parting comment the Anbu captain disappeared in a blur of speed.

Not five minutes later they managed to make it to the hospital with little to nothing stopping them except the occasional friendly ninja. Walking through the doors they were immediately bombarded with doctors.

In no time at all Naruto was taken to a separate room with Haku right beside him. Not ten seconds later Kakashi was also hulled into a separate room to be looked over.

"Hokage-sama?" Turning he saw he was addressed by one of the medical ninja present. "Are you of need of medical attention?" The man asked kindly.

"Hai, it would be best if you check me out for anything serious." He stated after thinking about the slash he got across his arm from Orochimaru's poisonous sword.

"As you wish Hokage-sama, if you would follow me." He stated as he started to walk away into one of the rooms for patients.

Author Notes:

Well there's the chapter. I really do hope you enjoyed it.

As always any question you have or comments, feel free to leave a review about them or PM me about them. I try to answer them all when I get the time.

Finally I want to tell you all I have a new story posted on my profile, feel free to go look at it if you want.

Review…

Battousai222


	18. Of Slugs and Princesses

Well here's the new chapter you all want to see. I've had people asking me why it takes so long to update so here goes my reasons. I do other things besides just write and I don't always feel in the mood to write either. That's about it. That being said this is the actual amount of words I wrote each time I sat down to type, and when I typed them.

2420 word done on 3/11/09

2278 words done on 5/25/09

1369 words done on 5/27/09

2014 words done on 6/5/09

As you can see there was a huge time between the first parts because I was working on my new story. Besides that I can usually write a chapter in about a week and a half once I feel up to typing another chapter.

You might also notice that I changed the title to Namikaze like people (Myself included) wanted. That also means I've changed the previous chapters so it fits with the real names in manga. (Minato and Kushina's names included of course) I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

Of Slugs and Princesses

"Glad you could make it Naruto, please come in." The Sandaime said when he saw his office door open and Naruto standing there looking into the room with apprehension.

Nodding in acknowledgment to the Hokage, Naruto surveyed the room's occupancy. Sitting behind his desk was the third Hokage; Sarutobi looked as healthy as his age allowed. Off to the side was Jiraiya leaning against the wall and right beside him was Kakashi with his nose buried in one of Jiraiya's books. On the other wall opposite of them was his other sensei Asuma looking like he really didn't want to be there at the time.

After his survey was done he walked over to his former sensei and nodded to him in greeting before looking back at the Hokage.

"I see you've recovered well from the poison Sarutobi."

Cracking a small smile said man nodded. "Hai, but the fight left me weakened. I won't be able to fight at that level again for at least another week."

"But it's already been two and a half weeks since the invasion; shouldn't you be at full strength again by now, especially with the medic Nins helping you heal?" Naruto asked with a raised eye brow.

Sighing tiredly the Hokage looked directly at him before he spoke. "That would normally be the case but sadly my old age is affecting my abilities to heal quickly."

Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face he explained further. "It looks like you don't know. Let me explain a little then. As you already know shinobi heal faster and gets sick less often because of the greater amount of chakra in ones body. This larger amount of chakra allows the body to heal quicker and fight off disease a lot easier, but you already know that. What I'm guessing you don't know it that when a ninja gets older that ability to fight off disease and heal quicker lowers considerably."

Seeing the look of understanding come to Naruto's face he continued. "As you just now are realizing, the older you get the weaker your body gets in taking care of itself. At the ninja academy they don't cover this as very few ninja actually live past there fifties, and those that do are retired so they don't see it as much. But those that do stay active shinobi at that age start to feel the effects. A normal ninja doesn't start feeling these effects until there early to mid forties and it doesn't really affect them any until they reach fifty. At my age of sixty-eight my healing ability is around a civilians speed. Even with the help of medic Nins my body just can't heal as fast."

Looking more closely at the old man Naruto couldn't help but notice that his chakra was still lower than it should have been and he could see the man was moving more cautiously than normal. He was brought out of his examination when the Kage cleared his throat.

"But regardless of my old age, that's not why I called any of you here." Seeing as he got everyone attention he spoke to the room in general.

"I'm stepping down from the Hokage position." His statement was answered with absolute silence. Seeing none of them yelling out or questioning him either because of shock or respect he continued on. "I'm telling you this because I want your honest opinion about who I should have as my successor."

If the silence before was bad then the silence now was deafening.

"Sensei?" Looking over in Jiraiya's direction Sarutobi nodded for him to speak freely. "Don't get me wrong, you're a great Hokage and all, but you can't honestly expect to step down. There's no one to take your place right now." The others nodded in agreement making the Hokage sigh.

"You're wrong Jiraiya. There are three people in this room I'd trust to take up the mantle of Hokage right this instant and you know who they are."

Shaking his head Jiraiya continued on trying to convince his sensei of his opinion. "I see were your going with this, and I agree that Kakashi, Naruto, or even myself could take up the title of Hokage but it's not practical. While I know Kakashi has the mind to run a village he doesn't have the power of a Kage to keep enemy villages away. Naruto's even less likely to be ready for the position. He's strong in his own right but again not at Kage level or does he have enough experience to run a village full of ninja. And me, while I am at Kage level or very close to it I don't have the time to be one. You and I both know I'm required to run the spy network for the village personally and to do that I have to leave the village often."

Each person in the room nodded in agreement. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto were offended by what Jiraiya said as everything he said was pure fact. If either of them were to take up the mantle of Kage, it would be Kakashi, not Naruto.

Sarutobi seeing this turned to his son. "And what do you think Asuma?"

Shrugging his shoulders he answered honestly. "I agree with Jiraiya on this one. While all three of them would make a great Kage none of them can right now. Naruto is the least qualified of any of them, sorry Naruto."

Said man shrugged his shoulders. "It's true though."

Continuing where he left off Asuma nodded to himself. "The only one possible would be Kakashi and like Jiraiya said he's not at Kage level yet."

Sighing once again Sarutobi shook his head. "I've realized all of this but I can't continue being Hokage. My age has caught up to me and its affecting my skills greatly. While I can still run the village just fine, if I stay as the Hokage I'll only make the village look weaker as word has already spread that I was struggling with one of my own students in a fight, regardless that he was a Sannin. When I was in my prime I would have been able to take any of my students down with some difficulty. Hell I could take two on and still come out on top or at worst a tie. Then there's the fact I'm more prone to disease now and could get sick at any time. I need a replacement and if it won't be any of you then there's only one other option left."

Seeing Naruto and Kakashi looking confused but Asuma and Jiraiya giving him skeptical looks he told them up front. "It'll have to be Tsunade."

His words made Jiraiya look at him as if he were crazy. "You know she'll never agree to become Hokage right?"

Sarutobi gave Jiraiya a hard look before he glanced at Naruto. "You're wrong Jiraiya. I know her better than you think and if you play it right she'll come back with you."

Catching the glance, Naruto gave the old man a confused look until he spoke again causing him to stare at him the same way Jiraiya was.

"I have a new mission for you Jiraiya, Naruto. Its top priority from here until it's completed, S-rank. You both are to leave the village and not return until you have convinced Tsunade of the Sannin to return with you and become the fifth Hokage."

His statement was met with a chuckle from Kakashi which caused everyone in the room to turn to him and look at him funny.

"I just find it funny that you're sending Naruto out with Jiraiya to get her. Wasn't it your fault in the first place that she didn't want to return more often because you wouldn't allow her to take Naruto with her?" Kakashi asked with another chuckle.

These statements cause Naruto to look at him funny. "What are you talking about Kakashi? The only time Tsunade has seen me was when I was just born. Didn't she deliver me?"

With another chuckle Kakashi answered his question ignoring the pleading look from the Hokage. "Naruto, after the Kyuubi was defeated Tsunade argued with the Sandaime about taking you away from the village and raising you as if you were her own son. She wanted to adopt you but the Hokage over there wouldn't let her."

"It that true Sarutobi?" Naruto asked giving him a piercing look.

Before he could answer Kakashi burst in again earning himself a glare from the Kage. "Oh it's true alright. It actually escalated from a yelling match to an all out fight were the Anbu had to restrain her from attacking the Hokage. In her rage at not getting to take care of you she left the village and hasn't returned since."

All these new facts left Naruto in a daze and the others in the room left him to his own thoughts before turning back to each other.

"Well, now that that little fact is out of the way do you accept the mission Jiraiya?" Sarutobi asked.

Sighing the man nodded in acceptance while grumbling to himself just load enough for the others to hear. "Like I had an option to decline."

Ignoring the mans mumble Sarutobi turned to Kakashi. "How are the repairs going?"

Pulling out a scroll, Kakashi pushed some chakra into it causing a stack of papers to poof into existence which he handed to the Hokage. "Those are the most resent reports from the construction crew. From what I gathered from the man in charge a good thirty-one percent of the village was either destroyed or damaged. It appears the shinobi were to surprised at our immediate response to do more damage to the village. Even so three of the main gates were completely destroyed and are just now being finished. Besides that it will take around another two to three weeks before the major destruction in fixed. Then it's just fine tuning everything to the way it was before or better." Kakashi reported.

Nodding his thanks on the update Sarutobi turned to Asuma. "And the death count, it should be in today. Did you pick it up like I asked?"

Nodding Asuma pulled out his own scroll and seconds later was handing over the official report on the death and hospitalized patience cause by the invasion.

Thanking his son for the information he asked if he knew any details before he read the whole thing later on in the day.

Thinking for a few seconds he nodded his head. "According to Inoichi we had eighteen critically injured shinobi but they all luckily survived the injures, some better than others I'm afraid. Deaths of our shinobi were around forty. I don't know the actually number but somewhere around the lower one-hundreds for injured but fully healed shinobi. As for civilians, we had forty-two deaths because of various factors. Some just didn't listen to the shinobi orders and didn't leave there houses an hour early before the invasion like we planned for, others were caught in various places they shouldn't have been in the confusion of the fighting. As for injures, I know its some where around thirty, but most of those were in the rush to get out of harms way, so nothing to serious."

Sarutobi nodded his thanks for the information and once again thanked the early intelligence of the invasion. It could have been a lot worse had they been totally surprised. The best part of the whole thing was the fast action the Konoha Shinobi did to stop the invasion and save there fellow comrades from dieing. It once again showed how well the method of working in a team actually worked. If one shinobi fell the other beside him would get him to safety while his other partner would hold them off or lure them away to be ambushed by fellow Konoha Shinobi. The methods obviously worked if they had so little deaths.

Shaking his head, Sarutobi brought his mind back to the present after hearing Naruto ask a question.

"Hai, what was it you said Naruto?"

"As I said before, why do you want Tsunade to be Hokage? I understand she has the qualifications to be a Kage, but don't you think it's bad to have her running the village after being away for so long?"

Taking Naruto's question into account he nodded at his worry. "I understand your worry Naruto but Tsunade whether she has been away from the village for a long time or not is still very much loyal to Konoha. She will make the right decisions to keep the village prosperous that much I am sure about." Seeing Naruto about to speak up, Sarutobi held up his hand to silence him before he could speak his mind.

"I have also taken into account the fact that she is about to turn fifty in three more years. That being said she will start having the same issues I am having right now only to a lesser degree, as will Jiraiya as he's the same age as her. Seeing as that is the case her position as Hokage won't be for a long time. I plan to have her be Hokage until a suitable one arises that is willing to take the job." The third spoke the last part while looking at Naruto, Kakashi, and Asuma.

"I'm not saying it will be any of you three but you are the most logical choice at this time. There might be some one else by the time Tsunade steps down, but I can't be for sure. At any rate, Tsunade is the only person at this time that can take the mantle of Hokage from me. As such I want both of you to do your best to convince her to come back to the village." Sarutobi finished looking at Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Fine we'll bring her back Sensei." Jiraiya grumbled.

"As you wish Hokage-sama." Naruto saluted with a grin.

Sighing at there antics, the third Hokage just waved them away. "Just go already, and you don't have to leave for another day you two."

* * *

"Wait, wait, so you're telling me that you brought Tsunade-sama back with Jiraiya-sama? I thought you were on an S-rank mission to get info on sound?" Haku asked with confusion and a bit of irritation in her voice at just now learning that her boyfriend had lied to her about where he was for three weeks.

Hearing the tone of voice she used Naruto had the decency to cringe under her tone and the accusing glare he was under.

"That was just the cover up story Sarutobi-sama came up with to explain my absence if anyone asked Haku-chan." The only response he got was Haku leaned away from her current position so she was sitting up on her own and not leaning against him anymore. Sighing Naruto sat up straighter from his slouched position on the couch and turned more to Haku.

"Look I'm sorry I had to lie to you but I was under direct orders from the Hokage to tell no one about my mission."

Muttering under her breath Haku looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Then why are you telling me this now, you know it bugged me this last month that you couldn't tell me anything."

"Just last night Sarutobi told me I was free to reveal the info to others if I wished it."

"Oh…" Haku mumbled before sighing and leaning her body over so she was more comfy on the couch. The fact that she was using Naruto's shoulder as a pillow didn't seem to bother either of them.

"Well since you're allowed to speak freely now, why don't you tell me how you brought Tsunade back. I've only met her twice so far but she seems to be nice enough."

Chuckling to himself Naruto put his arm around Haku's shoulder and leaned into her warmth before speaking. "To tell the truth, the first time I met her was at a casino bar and she was half drunk. Jiraiya and I at that point had been searching for around a week with various leads thanks to Jiraiya's connections. We found her in an old gambling town on the border of fire country."

"I can tell you now I wasn't expecting to meet the infamous Sannin the way I did."

* * *

"Jiraiya-sensei I see her." Naruto pointed in the general direction of the bar and upon seeing her Jiraiya's face lit up with comprehension.

Walking beside his sensei Naruto inspected there target. They could only see her backside as they walked up to her but that was enough for them to identify her. She wore a green trench coat with the words legendary imprinted on the back going vertically down the jacket. Besides that they could only see the back of her hair. She was a natural blond with her hair pulled back tightly into one long ponytail that was left to hang half way down her back.

"Tsunade-hime long time no see." Jiraiya said boastfully as he patted her on the back while sitting next to her at the bar. Naruto sat next to him while he observed how she tensed up at his appearance as if she didn't know he was there or perhaps it was out of surprise of seeing her old team mate after such a long time.

Either way after her initial surprise it was nothing but normal getting caught up between two old friends. Now at a better angle Naruto could see her fully. According to his info on her she was the same age as Jiraiya but looked to be only around thirty years of age physically.

'That must be the permanent Genjutsu I heard she wears to appear younger' Naruto thought to himself. Inspecting her he noticed her hair framed both sides of her face nicely and right in the middle of her forehead was a small purple diamond. Her clothes left little to the imagination as she was exposing quite a bit of her considerable chest to the world, with it being a white color just close to being indecent exposure. Besides that she looked like any other civilian out there but he knew better that that, even without noticeable weapons on her he knew she was highly skilled and dangerous.

After his inspection he noticed it really wasn't that much of a surprise that after the two old teammates got caught up did she finally take notice of who was sitting beside her old teammate.

"Well if it isn't little Naru-chan all grown up. You look just like your old man when he was your age." Tsunade said while she inspected him from top to bottom.

Nodding Naruto spoke for the first time in there conversation. "It's a pleasure to meet you Tsunade-sama."

"There's no need to be so formal brat just call me Tsunade I hate formalities." She responded right back.

"As you wish Tsunade."

Grunting she turned to her side and pointed out the lady sitting next to her. "This is Shizune and her pet pig Tonton."

Nodding to her Naruto inspected her at a glance. She had a natural beauty to her with chocolate brown eyes and very dark brown hair, nearly black. She wore a standard ninja fishnet shirt with a simple black kimono over the top of it.

Whistling Tsunade got the attention of the bar man and asked for another round of sake before turning to Jiraiya. "Nice brat, let me guess he's Chunnin already?"

Seeing her teammate grinning at her she looked from him to Naruto a few times before turning back to her drink and slamming a good amount down her throat. "So he's already been brought into the Anbu?"

"Nope he left the Anbu black ops a year ago, now he's a Jounin sensei." Jiraiya said proudly.

Looking up from her drink, Tsunade studied his grinning face with some slight disbelief. "Anbu black ops… you're kidding right that's absolutely no place for a kid to be."

Jiraiya grinning face instantly turned serious causing her to give her full attention to him. "Sensei and I are well aware of the effects of Anbu Black ops and we have taken some steps to ensure nothing happens to him."

"Still…"

Tsunade started but was interrupted as Naruto interrupted her. "My career as an Anbu and the steps I took are not why we're here Jiraiya-sensei."

Seeing the look he was getting and knowing he didn't want to talk about it here Jiraiya nodded his head in understanding and turned back to Tsunade who was giving Naruto a strange look.

"Alright let's talk Tsunade." He said getting her full attention again. "Naruto and I aren't her to talk about the old days. We were sent her by sensei to discuss your returning to the village."

"And why would I do that?" Tsunade asked sharply.

Narrowing his eyes at his teammate he spoke just as sharply as she did. "You have a responsibility to the village to serve and protect it in any way you can. Your skills in medical jutsu are unsurpassed by anyone in the world. As I'm sure you know Konoha was just invaded and we could use your services right now."

Sitting beside them Naruto couldn't help but listen as they both argued with each other back and forth. It seemed as if Tsunade had a grudge against something Konoha did in her past. From what he could gather she lost two people that were rather close to her and because of that she refused to believe Konoha would do anything but cause her more pain.

"Listen Tsunade, I'm just going to get right to the point ok. Sarutobi-sensei wants you to return and be the next Hokage." After Jiraiya said it Naruto knew something was wrong as Tsunade tensed up.

"Absolutely not, you know everyone that tries to be Hokage ends up dead, I refuse!" Tsunade remarked as she downed the rest of her sake in one gulp while standing up abruptly and heading to the door with her assistant Shizune, Naruto and Jiraiya right behind her.

"Sarutobi-sensei is getting old Tsunade. He can't continue to be Hokage forever you and I both know this. He needs a replacement and you're the only one he can see filling the position at this time." Jiraiya stated as he walked briskly beside her.

"You know what happened to Dan and Nawaki, why the hell do you think I would want to be Hokage after both of them died before they could reach their dreams? No way in hell am I going to become Hokage, that job is a death sentence waiting to happen. Everyone that wants to be or is Hokage is a fool." She spoke vindictively while continuing to walk ahead.

That is until she felt a not so subtle amount of killer intent directed at her back. Stopping she turned around to find the majority of it was coming from Naruto but a quarter of it was coming from Jiraiya himself.

"What would your brother and fiancé say if they heard you say that Tsunade?" Her white haired friend questioned.

Jiraiya's question barely got a glance from her besides a slight flinch, as her entire focus was solely on Naruto. She could see it in his eyes that he wanted nothing more than to verbally or maybe even physically attack her. She could understand why to, as she was probably one of the few people he truly looked up to. She knew for a fact that Sarutobi would have told him stories of her and how she loved her home village and here she is betraying everything he probably believed in.

"The second you become a ninja your life is put in danger, you literally send death onto others and bring death onto yourself. Being Hokage won't change that." Naruto spoke frostily.

Jiraiya glanced at him sympathetically as he could understand why he felt the way he did. To be so young when you start your ninja career and see the things the world would rather be kept a secret was not an easy life. Let alone Tsunade inadvertently insulted his father and what he died to protect.

"He's right you know." Jiraiya mentioned gaining her attention again. "The life of a ninja is dangerous no matter what rank you hold. The important thing to remember is that we do what we do to protect our family, friends, and village. Please Tsunade just consider what we have told you and think about all your family has fought for. Would they really want you to turn your back on the village they loved so much. Please just think about it."

Jiraiya uttered the last part softly while giving her a meaningful look. Taking a hold of Naruto he gripped his shoulder before they both disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Tsunade inadvertently grasped her necklace and gave it a tight squeeze while closing her eyes with a pained expression while Shizune looked after the two that had just disappeared with sorrow filled eyes. That left both Tsunade and Shizune in the middle of the street while people continued to pass them by.

* * *

Pausing in his story Naruto leaned to the side and picked up a bottle of sake and took a sip then offered it over to Haku who gladly took some.

Sighing as the alcohol slid down her throat she turned her head upwards to look at Naruto's relaxed face. "Well aren't you going to tell me the rest of the story? Tsunade obviously came back with you and she decided she wanted to be Hokage after all, so what happened to change her mind?"

Smiling to himself, Naruto wrapped his arms around Haku's waist while brushing his finger tips ever so gently against her bare stomach causing her to squirm in his grips.

"That tickles." Haku pouted while grabbing his hands and placing them on her stomach and leaving her hands on top of his so he couldn't move them.

Kissing her cheek he grinned happily. "I know that's why I did it."

"Jerk." She mumbled but Naruto could hear the happiness in her voice when she mumbled it.

"Of course but I'm your jerk." Naruto whispered against her neck softly making her squirm a little in his grip while inadvertently pushing herself more into him.

"Of course." Haku repeated playfully. "Now get on with the story before I force you to."

Smiling pleasantly he conceded to his girlfriends request. "Alright, where was I… oh yes well after that rather memorable first meeting Jiraiya and I stayed back in the hotel and just hung out and did some light training. Of course we were still keeping an eye on Tsunade as we didn't want her running off and disappearing as she's known to do."

"Nothing new really happened during that time. Jiraiya would often disappear, no doubt to spy on the women in the hot springs or in other places he shouldn't have been." Naruto remarked lightly.

Haku growled under her breath at the mention of Jiraiya's bad habits only to get a light huge from her boyfriend in response to her anger causing her to squeeze his hand affectionately.

"I also know he was talking to Tsunade at least once every day, what they were speaking about only Kama-sama knows. Besides that nothing much happened until four days after we initially meet her. Jiraiya was writing one of his books while I was reading over a jutsu scroll I brought along in our hotel room when we sensed a fairly big fight start in the distance."

* * *

"You feel that?" Jiraiya questioned looking out into the distance where he felt the chakra spikes coming from.

"Definitely, you think Tsunade is mixed into whatever's going on?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out, come on!" Jiraiya proclaimed while jumping out the window with Naruto right behind him seconds later.

Stopping on a hill, both men looked out onto the sense a half mile away from them. From there position they could make out Tsunade's form kneeling on the grass and staring at her hands while over four bodies lay surrounding her most likely dead.

A little ways away from her Shizune was fighting off an entire squad of ninja. Just from watching for less than five seconds they could easily tell she was struggling. With barely a glance at each other both men shot off from there stationary positions and raced off to help them out.

With the distance closing fast they could finally see who the mysterious group was; it was none other than sound. With the enemy now known they did the only thing they could, they attacked.

Within seconds the battle shifted from Shizune defending herself valiantly to Naruto and Jiraiya taking on the group instead.

With friendly backup helping, Shizune adrenaline pumped body finally gave out and she dropped to her knees before coughing up a glob of blood.

Seeing the condition she was in Jiraiya took charge. "Naruto take her to Tsunade she needs help!" He ordered while turning the ground they were standing on into a swamp causing the enemy ninja to back off or be swallowed by the deadly jutsu.

Doing as ordered Naruto appeared by her side and did a once over of her shaking body. From what he could see, her left bicep muscle was severed and just barely hanging together, she had a shallow stab wound in her chest close to her kidneys, she was bleeding from the ears and blood was leaking out of her mouth and if he could guess right she seemed to be affected by some form of Genjutsu to the senses as she wasn't responding to anything he was doing to snap her out of her current state.

Seeing the very real danger she was in he looked up from her body to see her master was still in the same position as she was when they first arrived. Now closer he could see she was staring at her blood covered hands almost unseeingly.

Growling low in his throat at having to make a risky decision he looked back down at the dyeing women and made a hasty decision. Bending down he picked up her body as carefully as he could and cradled her body so he wouldn't tousle her more than he had to and cause more harm than good.

Sprinting over carefully to Tsunade, Naruto laid her apprentice down at her feet so she was clearly in Tsunade's view. Looking up Naruto saw horror stretch across her face at seeing the women in such a condition and her shaking intensified.

Clenching his fist Naruto grabbed her by the shoulders and forced the legendary medic Nin to look him in the eye. "Do you want her to die? Heal her already what's wrong with you?" Naruto snapped in her face.

"I…I… c-ca-"

Her stammering was cut off sharply by Naruto's grip on her shoulders tightening viciously causing her to gasp in pain. "Of course you can heal her, do you want your apprentice to die?"

The only response he got was a pained expression and a minute shake of her head but other than that she continued to stare at Shizune helplessly.

"Damn it your worthless to me then, she's going to die if you don't help her! There's no time to get her back to a doctor." Naruto voiced desperately. Looking into her eye Naruto saw various emotions flash by but the most easily seen was pain.

Just as he was about to speak again Naruto sensed more than heard the incoming kunai at his back. Acting on instincts honed through many life and death experiences just as this he whipped around while simultaneously drawing a kunai and managed to deflect the kunai aimed not at him but Tsunade.

Hearing the clash of metal against metal so close caused Tsunade's head to snap up in his direction to see Naruto standing in front of her just blocking a slash from one of the sound ninja that attacked them earlier. Seconds later the ninja was sent skidding backwards from a kick to his chest from Naruto.

Glancing over his shoulder Naruto looked straight into Tsunade's eyes before speaking. "You either save her or she's dead Tsunade." With those morbid words Naruto kicked off from the ground and dashed back into the fight to keep the ninja away from Tsunade and her dyeing apprentice.

* * *

"By the time Jiraiya and I managed to kill or knock out the sound ninja Tsunade was already at work healing Shizune." Naruto explained to his girlfriend.

"What caused her to freeze up like that? I wouldn't expect something like that from a legendary ninja like Tsunade-sama." Haku asked softly.

Shrugging his shoulders Naruto chuckled slightly. "Surprisingly she was scared of blood."

"Scared of blood?" Haku repeated dubiously. "A shinobi and medic actually scared of blood?"

"Yep," Naruto answered, "I couldn't believe it myself until Tsunade-sama told me personally."

"Wow… what caused her to finally snap out of it?"

"Not a clue," Naruto responded, "It could have been something I said or she could have just finally understood that she was the only one there to save her apprentice from deaths doors. She wouldn't tell me when I asked later."

The room fell silent after that as both Shinobi settled into a comfortable silence in each other's embrace until something accrued to Haku.

"Then why did it take you guys so long to get back?" Haku inquired, "It should of only taken you guys another week to get back even with an injured person but you guys took two weeks?"

"Well Shizune was more injured then I initially thought. She was suffering from the wounds I told you about but also mass internal bleeding and three broken ribs. It seemed the Genjutsu they put her under and the attacks she was under caused her stomach to get punctured at some point causing the stomach acids to cause even more damage. We couldn't move Shizune with her injures for at least five days without causing more harm than good. Then we had to go at a civilians speed and take turns carrying her because she couldn't walk under her own power and if we moved faster it would have just reopened the wounds." Naruto revealed lightly.

"Why was sound after Tsunade-same in the first place?" The black haired beauty inquired softly.

Giving her a kiss on the cheek Naruto replied. "While Tsunade-sama was healing Shizune, Jiraiya was conducting an interrogation on the three ninja we managed to capture and not kill in the fighting. He found out that Kabuto has taken control of the Sound village and ordered a squad to track her down and neutralize a possible threat. Besides that he also found out that very few actually know where the real Sound village is, but there are multiple little bases around the world that Orochimaru and his forces hide out in."

"Figures they'd hide out like that." She whispered, "But you still haven't answered why she came back with you guys and actually became the Hokage."

"Well after things cooled down some and Shizune wasn't in any immediate danger Tsunade-sama took Jiraiya-sensei aside and they talked things out. I got pieces of the conversation and later she talked to me also, but from what I understand she obviously knew she was being targeted so she agreed to come back with us. She told us she would talk things over with Sarutobi and only become Hokage temporarily until someone else could take the job. She told us straight out she didn't want to be Hokage but would if it meant protecting her home village and those close to her…" Naruto trailed off slightly with a thoughtful look on his face.

Looking up and seeing the look Haku inquired what he was thinking about. "Well when she said that I could have sworn she glanced at me and Shizune but it could have just been Shizune as I was sitting right beside her..."

Chuckling at her boyfriends comment, Haku brought back his focus with another question. "Anything else happen after that?"

"Nope," Naruto told. "After we got back I had two days of leave and then you, me and my team got that mission to snow and you kno…"

"I'm still not going to forgive you for that!" Haku interrupted sharply.

Her abrupt interruption caused Naruto to blink a couple times until he finally understood what she meant. "Bu… but I didn't start it and she…"

"Kissed the living daylights out of you!" Interrupted a new voice from the window. Looking up as neither of them sensed the new presence they found Jiraiya entering through the window sill.

Seeing no immediate danger from his sensei Naruto turned to what could be a danger if he didn't defuse the anger he could already see on Haku's face. "I swear Haku, she kissed me and I tried to stop it but she just wouldn't let go. You have to forgive me, I…"

His comment caused Haku to stand up abruptly while simultaneously swinging her right fist into Naruto's shoulder viciously hard and at the same time throwing her left arm out in Jiraiya's direction causing a hidden senbon needle to fly straight at him.

Hearing a thump and then the sound of small scale ciaos caused Naruto to look up from rubbing his throbbing shoulder to see Jiraiya had fallen out of the second story window and if he knew his girlfriend's apartment as well as he thought he did then Jiraiya must have landed in the dumpster or by the various trash cans that surrounded said dumpster.

Turning from the window Naruto just caught sight of his retreating girlfriend turning around the corner heading for the kitchen. And if he wasn't mistaken he could have sworn he heard her almost hissing about some hussy or something. But then again it was rather hard to hear with all the sound Jiraiya was making outside and his swearing that he could hear rather well.

Leaning back into the couch Naruto let out an aggravated sigh. He knew Haku needed time to cool down and he was sure his sensei would come back up to the window shortly so he just relaxed.

As he predicted, Jiraiya's head peeked out from the bottom of the window sill to see if Haku was gone not thirty seconds later.

"You just had to open your mouth sensei." Naruto uttered angrily.

Seeing the coast was clear, said man crawled up the rest of the way and entered through the window to land softly on the clean carpet. "How was I supposed to know she would react like that?"

Turning, Naruto gave Jiraiya his best glare that he could. "Oh I don't know, the fact that she's my girlfriend should have tipped you off. You know women get angry when other women flirt with their boyfriends let alone kiss them. Hell guys are the same way. It is beyond me how you keep getting girls if this is how you react around them."

Jiraiya had the decency to look properly cowed before sighing and making his way over to the couch before flopping down on it heavily. "So what did happen in snow country? I got the summary from the report in the files you and Haku submitted and it said there was a revolution and the princess of snow is back in power after a few scuffles between you guys and some ninja over there. But my informant told me the princess pretty much threw herself at you and then proceeded to make out with you."

"Why the hell would your informant in that country tell you something as small as that? Are all your informants as perverted as you are?" Naruto asked irritated.

"Actually most of my informants are rather normal people, but that's beside s the point. That piece of information was valuable." The Sannin said seriously.

"Oh and how could that be useful in any way besides getting Haku angry at me again?"

"For one it could mean easier alliances between Konoha and Snow because of your close friendship with her, she is the princess there and she can pull a lot of strings to help us out. Besides that I give all my informants the orders to relay any and all information they find on you personally back to me."

"Wa…Why?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"I like to know how my godson is doing." Jiraiya commented plainly, "That and I'd like to know if Iwa or any other country is planning to attack you or Konoha by default before you activate your bloodline to stop another yellow flash from reappearing."

Snorting Naruto leaned his head back on the couch. "Even if I do activate the bloodline, that won't mean I can use my dad's Hiraishin Jutsu (Flying Thunder God), he was the one to create that jutsu and it's not something one can just learn in a day. Besides that there's still a chance the bloodline alone will kill me."

"That's only a one percent chance, and all those that have died because of it have been civilians or academy class ninja. You know that those with genin or higher chakra reserves can't die from the activation alone." Jiraiya reminded instantly.

"Ya but there's other factors that could kill me when using it. Besides, do you really think I'll activate it? According to my clan history most activate it by the time there thirteen. I'm already fifteen if you've forgotten."

Hearing the depressed tone Jiraiya spoke softly. "You've read how to use it properly, I know you won't over do it and destroy your body. As for activating it, don't worry about it your just a late bloomer, some in your clan activated it as late as twenty one. You still have time to achieve that ability so don't let it get to you."

Smiling softly at his sensei's reassuring words Naruto let out a ragged breath. "Thanks sensei."

Grinning goofily Jiraiya patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Not a prob kid, not a prob."

There comfortable silence ended when Jiraiya grunted softly. "Well you never did answer my question before we got side tracked."

Blinking for a few seconds Naruto finally caught on to what his sensei was talking about. "Right after the whole fight was over with Doto and his crew for the final time Princess Yukie came running up to me and pretty much threw herself at me. If I wasn't a ninja I would have fallen on my ass but as it were she ended up wrapping her arms and legs around me while she proceeded to kiss me."

"Let me guess, Haku didn't like that." Jiraiya commented dryly.

Giving him a pointed look Naruto defended his actions. "No… no she didn't like that one bit. Needless to say I was rather surprised at Princess Yukie's actions and tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn't let me go. Luckily… well for me at least Haku was on her after on a few seconds and pried her off."

Hearing him stop Jiraiya looked up from scribbling in his notebook to see Naruto staring at him with a twitch in his eyebrow. "Why'd you stop? It was getting really good, was there a cat fight next?" He asked eagerly.

Getting a more violent twitching of the eye he could see Naruto's gaze not on him anymore but rather above him. Feeling a cold shiver run down his spine Jiraiya looked up to meet the pissed off view of Haku's face.

"Actually, after I threw the hussy away from_ my _boyfriendI proceeded to threaten to beat her to an inch of her life if she ever put moves on _my _boyfriend again." Haku hissed venomously.

Gulping Jiraiya did the smart thing and slowly backed away from the pissed off Jounin class women in front of him. Seeing she was having the effect she wanted, Haku pulled out three senbon needles from her sleeve and pulled her arm back.

Eyes widening, Jiraiya spun on his heels and dived for the open window.

Seeing her target gone, Haku took a calming breath and turned to Naruto with a raised eye brow. Seeing the inquisitive look Naruto answered quickly before her ire turned on him.

"Like I said before; she came onto me," Naruto assured. "If I knew she was going to kiss me I wouldn't have let her get that close. I thought she was just looking for comfort from the recent near death experience and she wanted a shoulder to cry on or a huge or something but not a kiss. Once she kissed me I tried to stop her but she was still a client and I didn't want to hurt her. Thankfully you took her off me before any more damage could be done."

Seeing him explain his actions again for what must be the thirtieth time in a rather quick and desperate voice Haku knew he really was sorry for what happened. She also knew he wouldn't hurt her like that. Sighing she walked up to him and slowly pushed him backwards until the back of his knees hit the couch causing him to fall back into a sitting position. Smiling seductively Haku lowered herself so she was straddling his waist and proceeded to lean forward until their lips met in a soft kiss.

Breaking for oxygen Naruto starred into his beautiful girlfriends eyes. "I guess this means I'm finally forgiven then."

His answer was another long passionate filled kiss and as far as he was concerned that was good enough answer for him.

Sadly there make out session was broken up by the sound of perverted giggling. Turning away from each other they both looked over to see Jiraiya peeking through the window while scribbling in his note book.

Standing silently from her very comfortable position on Naruto's lap, she silently made her way over to the window Jiraiya was using before he noticed they had stopped. Just as Haku made it halfway to the window Jiraiya looked up and instantly paled seeing the cold fury on her face. Turning around quickly he had to dodge multiple deadly incoming needles or be painfully reminded why he shouldn't peek on his student when with a girl.

Making it to a different roof Jiraiya jumped down to the streets below while turning around to see Haku throwing her last needle were he used to be from her open window. Landing on the ground softly he heard a feminine voice scream loud enough that he was sure half the village heard it. "Jiraiya you perverted bastard stop spying on us!"

Sighing in relief he turned around to get some distance between them in case she decided to chase him when he was suddenly smacked upside the head hard enough to send him straight to the ground.

Looking up from his downed position Jiraiya could see it was an Anbu that hit him. More pacifically it was a female Anbu. Gulping pathetically he accepted his fate when he heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Looking over he whimpered when he saw three more women walking over to his position with _that_ look in their eyes which meant only one thing…pain.

From her position in the open window Haku glared at where Jiraiya disappeared to and was debating whether or not to chase after him when she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her body against an equally muscular chest.

"Leave him be, you can beat him up some other day." Naruto spoke softly into her neck.

Sighing at the feeling of his body so close to hers and in irritation she was about to speak up when she heard a cry for mercy before hearing a pained wail. Knowing where it came from caused a victorious smile to spread across her normally peaceful face.

"Or someone else can beat him up I guess." Naruto murmured softly.

Seeing as there mood was ruined by Jiraiya's behavior Haku spoke up. "You want to go get dinner, it's getting pretty late out?" Haku whispered softly.

"Sure I'd like that." Naruto whispered just as softly.

* * *

Author Notes:

Well I have to say the chapter was more of filler than anything else. I said what I wanted to about Tsunade and the snow mission. I really didn't want to stay to long on these two topics as they aren't too crucial to the plot and story line. I wanted to get across that Tsunade cares about Naruto in some way, and I accomplished that. I also wanted snow to be involved with Naruto in some way, and I got that covered also. Both those are essential for the plot but the overall detail of long agonizing chapters was not needed for what I consider an inevitable happening in this story. Those events weren't needed in huge detail, I covered what I thought was important in both missions.

I also gave a decent reason for Sarutobi to step down… and no I didn't kill him off, shame on you for thinking that. Just because he got nicked by some poison isn't going to kill him, not after that long and huge Kage level battle.

As always feel free to leave a review or PM if you have any questions or comments.

Because nothing really happened this chapter (In my eyes of huge importance anyways) I'll leave with a parting note for next chapter.

Akatsuki is coming to Konoha! Why you may ask when there is no Jinchuriki to capture… you'll just have to wait and find out, and before you ask no it will not be happening like in the series. This is where things start to deviate big time.

"_Patience is a virtue." _(And I hate it)

Battousai222


End file.
